Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz looks toward the prosecution table during a hearing at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on April 5, 2019. (Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – A jury of seven men and five women was tentatively chosen Tuesday for a penalty trial to decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz should be sentenced to death or get life in prison for the 2018 attack, capping a nearly three-month winnowing process that began with 1,800 candidates.
The jurors were picked from a final group of 53 candidates by prosecutors and defense attorneys. Those chosen survived three rounds of questioning that began on April 4 and dragged on through numerous delays caused by illnesses and other factors. Eight of 10 alternates were selected before Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer adjourned late Tuesday.
The jury will be finalized Wednesday. Both sides still have peremptory challenges that could change the main panel’s final makeup — the defense has two and the prosecution has six.
The jury will decide whether Cruz, 23, receives the death sentence or life in prison without parole for the murders of 14 students and three staff members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Opening statements, originally expected in May, are now scheduled for July 18.