This Thursday, a jury rejected the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Instead, they recommend life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Read More Here).
After seven hours of deliberations over two days, the jury could not unanimously agree that he should be executed. As the Associated Press reports, under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count.
As we previously reported, Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last October to all charges that were brought against him by a Florida grand jury, which included 17 counts of premeditated murder and an additional 17 counts of attempted murder to account for people injured during Feb. 14, 2018 shooting – a date that he said he picked so the school would never celebrate Valentine’s Day. The penalty trial began in July after months of delays, and concluded earlier this week with closing arguments before a sequestered jury moved into deliberations.
