A jury Thursday rejected the death penalty for the shooter in the 2018 massacre that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“We are beyond disappointed with the outcome today,” Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter, Alyssa, was killed, said at the news conference.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth 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.Cruz, his hair unkempt, largely sat hunched over and stared at the table as the jury’s decisions were read. Rumblings grew from the family section — packed with about three dozen parents, spouses and other relatives of the victims — as it became apparent the jury was not going to recommend the death penalty.
He said he feels bad for the families of victims and that “it hurt” to watch the decisions being read in court. “There’s nothing we could do. It’s the way the law is. And that’s how we voted,” he said.Tony Montalto, father of Gina Montalto, expressed disbelief at the finding. He said the jury recognized that Cruz committed terrible acts, “shooting, some victims more than once on a pass, pressing the barrel of his weapon to my daughter’s chest.
As he spoke to the media, Schulman held up a laptop with an image of Cruz in the school hallway with a gun. “The last thing my son saw was the gunman aiming at him,” he said.In a case like this, “where you’re massacring those students with premeditation in utter disregard for basic humanity ... I just don’t think anything else is appropriate except a capital sentence,” DeSantis said.Multiple family members talked about the years they waited for justice.
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