Nikolas Cruz gets life without parole, jury declines death penalty | USA TODAY

A jury has reached a verdict in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland school shooter, who killed 17 people and injured 17 more in 2018.

RELATED: Parkland shooter defense scolded by judge

Victims' family members seated in the gallery scowled, shook their heads or held them in their hands as circuit judge Elizabeth Scherer read the recommendation Thursday. The 12-person jury came to a decision after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial where stories of the victims' execution were retold in graphic detail.

Scherer will formally issue the life sentences Nov. 1. Relatives, along with the students and teachers Cruz wounded, will be given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Cruz. But under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. While jurors found that the aggravating evidence was sufficient to warrant a possible death penalty for the gunman, at least one believed the mitigating factors outweighed aggravating ones.

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20 comments

    1. They’re unfortunately are telling the deceased victims to screw off, this is bull crap because they can’t get another chance to live, but to keep Cruz alive is seriously a stupid thing for them to do.

    2. @Gabriel Martinez or maybe instead of getting the easy way out he suffers for the next 60 years rotting in a horrible prison cell maximum security

    1. He definitely will be put in protective custody! We just have to hope the correction officer on shift will leave the doors unlocked for the inmates who want to get at him!!!!

  1. 0:34
    Might want to proofread your captions more. “deadliest U.S. mass shooting *trail* as of October 2022.”

  2. When the misplaced compassion of a single juror is allowed to make an entire nation disappointed and angry, families of victims miserable, and a mass murderer provided with a lifetime of free room and board at taxpayer’s expense, the criminal justice system needs to be replaced with something completely different. The shooter exercised the power to ruin lives, now a single juror has backed him up on it.

  3. life in jail is worst then death, he will be locked up for a long long long time. Death would only help him escape the torment of being locked up 23 and 1 for life

  4. Wtf Complete utter bullpoop! dude planned it . And executed it. He planned to end lives. He wasn’t crazy then right??? Pfft worlds fked

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