The jury will resolve whether or not Nikolas Cruz, 23, receives the demise sentence or life in jail with out parole for the murders of 14 college students and three workers members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
Cruz pleaded responsible in October to these murders and 17 counts of tried homicide, so the jurors will solely resolve his punishment. The jury have to be unanimous for Cruz to get the demise penalty. If at the very least one votes for all times, that shall be Cruz’s sentence.
Throughout what is predicted to be a monthslong penalty trial, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will order jurors to not speak to anybody about what they’ve seen, heard or thought. The order shouldn’t be uncommon; it’s issued in any respect trials to make sure jurors’ opinions aren’t influenced by outsiders.
The jurors will tour the now-abandoned three-story constructing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland the place Cruz fatally shot 14 college students and three workers members and wounded 17. Its bullet-pocked halls stay unchanged since shortly after the Feb. 14, 2018, bloodbath, with Valentine’s Day presents nonetheless strewn about.
They will view graphic safety video of terrified teenagers and lecturers being shot point-blank or working for his or her lives, look at post-mortem and crime scene pictures and listen to heartrending testimony from wounded survivors and relations of the homicide victims.
For all or most of Cruz’s jurors, this may undoubtedly be their first publicity to graphic gun violence and they are going to be coping with the deadliest mass capturing that has ever gone to trial within the U.S. Nine different individuals within the U.S. who fatally shot at the very least 17 individuals died throughout or instantly after their assaults.