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Parkland school shooter avoids death penalty, leaving families distraught
Parkland School shooter, Nikolas Cruz, has avoided the death penalty, after a jury recommended life imprisonment instead
Parkland school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, has avoided the death penalty, after a jury recommended he spend the remainder of his life behind bars instead.
Cruz will not face the death penalty, after killing 17 people at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School.
As the recommendation was delivered, families’ of the victims appeared visibly upset.
“He should be afraid every second of the day of his life.”
Linda Beigel Schulman
The father of a 14 year old victim, Dr. Iian Alhadeff, spoke of his disappointment after the jury’s recommendation.
“As a country we need to stand up and say that’s not ok…I pray that that animal suffers every day of his life in jail.”
Dr. Iian Alhadeff
The father of Parkland victim Jaime Guttenberg, Fred Guttenberg, says he has to visit his daughter at the cemetery every day.
“The first thing I do moving forward is I go visit my daughter at the cemetery … The next thing I do … is everything I can to prevent the next one of these.”
Fred Guttenberg
“In prison, I hope and pray [Nikolas Cruz] receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others.”
Fred Guttenberg
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis also slammed the Jury’s recommendation for Cruz.
The 24-year-old Parkland school shooter pleaded guilty to all 17 counts of murder. His defence argued he was mentally unstable at the time of the shootings.
But prosecutors argued he premeditated and planned the entire attack.
Now, it will be up to the Judge to issue a formal sentence on November 1. However, she cannot go against the jury’s recommendations.