Comment FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Prosecutors opened the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz on Monday with a chilling timeline of how he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago, setting the stage for an emotional trial expected to last months. and renew the debate about what kind of defendants should be executed. The trial, being held in Broward County Court, comes after Cruz already pleaded guilty to one of the deadliest shootings in US history when he was 19. The jury of seven men and five women is to decide whether Cruz, now 23, should be given the death penalty or life in prison for his crimes. In his opening statement, Broward County District Attorney Michael J. Satz accused Cruz of carrying out a “cold, calculating, manipulative and deadly” attack that involved gruesome and shocking levels of violence. After explaining to jurors that much of Cruz’s rampage was caught on surveillance video, Satz noted that some of Cruz’s victims huddled together in hallways or classroom alcoves after being shot, but Cruz returned minutes later and fired even more bullets in their bodies. Cruz, who was armed with an assault rifle and wearing a tactical vest, fired 139 rounds during his rampage on February 14, 2018. Sachs also told jurors they will hear evidence of how Cruz, a former student at the school, planned his attack for months. Satz noted that police discovered a cellphone video of Cruz made three days before an Uber driver dropped him off at the school to carry out his Parkland attack. “Hi, my name is Nick. I will be the next school shooter of 2018,” he said in the video, according to Satz. “My target is at least 20 people with an AR-15 and some tracer rounds. It will be a big event and when you see me on the news, you will know who I am. You will all die.” In all, Cruz killed 14 students, a teacher, the school’s athletic director and a football coach. A 15-year-old student had been shot 13 times, Satz said. Another 17 people were injured in the shooting. Some relatives of the victims sobbed in the courtroom as prosecutors presented their case. After the Parkland shooting, some of the victims’ parents joined Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students to launch a national campaign for stricter gun laws. “One week ago today I was at the @White House to celebrate [President Biden] signing gun safety legislation,” Fred Guttenberg, who lost his 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, in the shooting, tweeted Monday morning. “Today, I am in the Courthouse for the start of the penalty phase of the criminal trial of the person who murdered my daughter with an AR 15. This is the reality of gun violence.” After Buffalo Massacre, AG Garland Weighs in on Federal Death Penalty and Racial Equality The sentencing portion of Cruz’s trial comes as the United States is reeling from a spate of mass shootings that have renewed the debate over gun laws and sparked uproar as people are shot in places meant to be safe — including schools. A massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 students and two teachers dead in May. A Texas House investigative report released Sunday highlighted numerous glaring mistakes by local, state and federal law enforcement in responding to the attack. Cruz, wearing a gray and black sweater, had his face partially covered by a black mask during Monday’s proceedings. As Satz outlined the prosecutors’ case, Cruz fumbled with a notebook and scribbled notes to his attorneys. In a surprise move, Cruz’s legal team waived its right to make an opening statement, saying it would begin presenting its case to the jury at a later date. However, Cruz’s legal team is expected to ask jurors to spare him life because he had a troubled upbringing and received mental health counseling. Cruz’s mother died in 2017 and he was living in foster care when he carried out his attack. Broward County District Judge Elizabeth Scherer is presiding over the trial. During her opening instructions to the jury, Scherer said that under Florida law, jurors must first unanimously decide whether Cruz’s assault involved one of seven possible “aggravating factors” for a capital crime. If they do, the jury will consider other possible “mitigating circumstances” that would cause them to spare Cruz the death penalty. His brother confessed to shooting 17 people in Parkland. But it’s the only family Zac Cruz has left. During his opening remarks, Sachs laid out the aggravating factors he said prosecutors will use to argue for the death penalty. Under Florida law, the potential aggravating factors that jurors are: whether the defendant had a prior violent felony conviction; that the defendant knowingly created a great danger to a large number of people; that a killing was particularly “heinous, horrible or cruel”; that a killing was premeditated. the crime was committed to disrupt a governmental function. the victim was an appointed public official in the performance of his duties; or that the murders were committed during a burglary. Satz said Cruz’s crime involved all seven of those factors. Although Cruz had no prior violent criminal record, Satz said killing or attempting to kill any of the 34 victims qualifies. The prosecutor also argued that Cruz committed his crime during a break-in because he was a former student who was not authorized to be at the school. “You will see that these aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances,” Satz said. “Anything about the defendant’s background. Anything about his childhood. Anything about his school. Anything for his mental health. Anything to cure him and anything to care for him.”
