The trial, which is likely to last months, will delve into Cruz’s personal history and include accounts from the victims’ families and those who witnessed the massacre. Sachs said Monday that there were seven aggravating factors in the killing that carried the death penalty, including that the attack disrupted a government function (ie the school) and that the killings were “particularly heinous, gruesome or cruel.” “These aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances, anything about the defendant’s background, anything about his childhood, anything about his schooling, anything about his mental health, anything about his treatment, anything about his care,” Satz said. The defense chose to delay its opening statements until later in the trial. Three witnesses who were at the school the day of the shooting testified Monday about what happened on Valentine’s Day 2018, when Cruz used a semiautomatic rifle to kill 17 people and wound 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Their testimony was punctuated by the audio of a 911 call from a teacher and disturbing cellphone videos taken inside the school that drew emotional reactions in the courtroom. In court, Cruz sat silently during the proceedings, wearing large glasses, a black face mask, a collared shirt and a sweater. Sometimes, he would put his head in his hands and look down or put his head down in folded hands. The Parkland massacre launched the student-led March For Our Lives movement, which has pushed for gun safety legislation across the country. But the U.S. remains plagued by an epidemic of gun violence, with more than 350 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks incidents in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. There was the racist attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in mid-May, followed immediately by the massacre of elementary school students and teachers in Uvalde, Texas. And just this month, a gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago, killing seven people and injuring dozens.
The trial begins with a detailed schedule
The prosecution began opening statements with a detailed timeline of the attack. On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz took an Uber to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, walked in and fatally shot teenage students in the hallway, shot into several classrooms and shot three adults who were trying to shield students from the carnage, Satz said. The gunman also took his steps and repeatedly shot several of his victims. One victim, 14-year-old Peter Wang, was shot 13 times, Satz said. In all, Cruz fired 139 bullets into the school, including 70 on the first floor, two on the stairwell, six on the second floor and 61 on the third floor, according to Satz. Cruz then dropped his rifle and left the school, mingling with the onrushing crowd. He went to a Subway to get an Icee — even leaving a tip — and drank it on a bench, Satz said. He was located by an officer and arrested about three miles from the school just over an hour after the shooting. Fourteen of the dead were students: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Modalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 14. Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35; wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49; and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 37, were also killed — each while running toward danger or trying to help students to safety.
Witnesses describe hearing “incredibly loud” gunshots
Brittany Sinitch, a teacher at Stoneman Douglas in 2018, was the prosecution’s first witness and said students were reading Romeo and Juliet and writing romantic poetry on Valentine’s Day when they heard gunshots in the hallway. “It was incredibly loud,” he said. “The things that were outside my classroom, it’s like you feel it inside your body, all over your chest.” The students made sure to close the door, turned off the lights and hid in the corners of the room and behind Sinich’s desk, he said. He called 911, but “they couldn’t hear me over the sound of the gunshots,” he said. No one in her class was shot or injured. They remained hidden in the room until the police came and signaled them to leave. Danielle Gilbert, a Stoneman Douglas student at the time, hid inside a classroom where three people were shot and one was killed. He took several videos of the shooting, and audio from them was played in court Monday. In the terrifying audio, gunshots are heard, a person moans “someone help me” and people can be heard crying and hyperventilating. After several minutes, the police arrive in the room and treat the injured. Dylan Kraemer, another Stoneman Douglas class of 2018, said he was in classroom 1214 in a class called “History of the Holocaust” when he heard gunshots. They hid in the corners of the room and behind a filing cabinet, but the gunman fired a round of shots through the classroom door window, killing two people inside. The videos and audio caused problems and emotional reactions from those in the courtroom. At least three of the jurors appeared uncomfortable while a video was played. Tony Montalto, the father of one of the 14 students killed that day, put on earplugs as the videos and audio played. Other family members of the victims were seen hugging as the video played. Another tearful and trembling woman was seen putting her head on her knees with her ears covered. Officers approached her to escort her out as she left visibly upset. During Kraemer’s testimony, video and audio of the attack was played, causing some family members in the courtroom to close their eyes and turn away. Modalto left the courtroom. Someone in the courtroom could be heard shouting: “Turn it off!”
How the penalty shootout works
A defendant in Florida who is found guilty of a capital offense undergoes a separate phase of sentencing proceedings. In the penalty phase, the court reviews the case and the defendant’s history to decide whether he deserves death or a lesser sentence such as life imprisonment. The court will generally hear reasons why the defendant should or should not be killed, known as aggravating and mitigating factors, respectively. In Cruz’s case, the jury must be unanimous in finding beyond a reasonable doubt that at least one aggravating factor exists. If that happens, jurors must then unanimously recommend that the defendant be put to death, or his sentence would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. If they recommend death, the judge could choose to follow the recommendation or sentence Cruz to life. The penalty phase could include jurors visiting the scene of the mass shooting, according to court documents. Judge Scherer wrote that a visitation would allow jurors to analyze “many of the aggravating factors” the state seeks to prove, the documents show. The building remains intact but has been sealed for the past four years, WPLG reported. The court spent weeks narrowing down a pool of hundreds of potential jurors to a pool of 12 jurors and 10 alternates. Of the 12 jurors, seven are men and five are women. Nine alternates are women and one is a man. Several weeks after jury selection began, the process was halted when bailiffs on April 27 immobilized Cruz against a wall to protect him from people who were “threatening,” Scherer told Cruz’s attorney. One potential juror was “lashing out” at Cruz, prompting other jurors to become “belligerent,” said the judge, who dismissed the other prospective jurors in the room. In another case, about a dozen potential jurors were dismissed after one of them wore a T-shirt referencing the shooting, CNN affiliate WPLG reported. One of Cruz’s attorneys took issue with the shirt, which featured Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ official colors of silver and burgundy and read: “Teacher Strong #neveragain #msdstrong.” “Obviously he did it on purpose to get out of jury selection,” the judge said, according to the station. Scherer dismissed the rest of the panel. During jury selection, Cruz’s defense attorneys asked the court for a delay, arguing that the “wave of emotion” caused by a series of recent shootings would undermine his right to a fair trial, court records show. But state District Judge Elizabeth Scherer denied the motion, saying the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde had not jeopardized court proceedings or his ability to have a fair trial. CNN’s Leyla Santiago, Alta Spells, Carlos Suarez and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.
