Parkland school killer formally sentenced to life
Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been formally sentenced to life in prison without parole. Before Cruz was sentenced, parents and other relatives of Cruz's victims spent two days telling him of their anger and hate toward him. (Nov. 2)
news.yahoo.comParkland Parents Lose It Over Nikolas Cruz’s Attorney Flipping the Bird
Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via GettyIn the final hours of the two-day sentencing hearing for Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the family members of some of his victims fiercely confronted not only him, but also his defense team.Cruz’s attorneys locked horns with Judge Elizabeth Scherer frequently before, during, and after a nearly four-week death penalty trial, crescendoing in an explosive exchange on Tuesday that saw
news.yahoo.comFamilies get final say before Parkland shooter is sentenced
Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison this week — but not before the families of the 17 people he murdered get the chance to tell him what they think. A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday that will conclude with Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentencing Cruz for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Because the jury at his penalty trial could not unanimously agree that the 24-year-old deserved a death sentence, Scherer can only sentence the former Stoneman Douglas student to life without parole — an outcome most of the families criticized.
news.yahoo.com‘He’s constantly going to live in fear.’ Spared execution, Cruz faces hellish life in prison
Had Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz been sent to Florida’s Death Row, his daily life while awaiting execution would not have been easy. But he would have enjoyed certain comforts: his own cell, meals delivered three times a day, clean clothes and towels brought to him, and no requirement to work.
news.yahoo.com‘A crime may have been committed’ in Parkland trial jury room, prosecutors say
Editor’s note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service. The deliberation room where 12 jurors decided the fate of confessed mass shooter Nikolas Cruz may have been a crime scene itself — a juror says she was threatened during deliberations, and prosecutors want the claim investigated. According to a motion filed late Thursday, prosecutors want ...
news.yahoo.comParkland father says he's "disgusted" with jurors after they spare shooter's life: "I pray that animal suffers every day of his life in jail"
"That you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded and not give the death penalty? What do we have the death penalty for? What's the purpose of it?" Alhadeff said, adding that he believed the jurors set a precedent today that could affect future mass killings.
cbsnews.comLIFE: Parkland gunman gets mercy from jury with life prison sentences for 17 deaths at Stoneman Douglas
He doesn’t deserve to die. At least, not for the murder of 15-year-old Luke Hoyer or of 14-year-old Martin Duque, a Broward jury decided Thursday after deliberating seven hours. Or for Gina Montalto, 14; Alex Schachter, 14; Alaina Petty, 14; Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Helena Ramsay, 17; Chris Hixon, 49; Carmen Schentrup, 16; Aaron Feis, 37; Scott Beigel, 35; Meadow Pollack, 18; ...
news.yahoo.comClosing arguments made in school shooter's case
Closing arguments were Tuesday in the case of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz. Jurors now will decide if he gets a death sentence or life in prison. Cruz pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder in the 2018 attack that left 17 dead. (Oct. 11)
news.yahoo.comProsecutor makes final case for school shooter's execution
The lead prosecutor of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz made his final push Tuesday to persuade jurors to sentence him to death, telling them during his closing argument that the 2018 attack that killed 17 people was cold, calculated and meticulously planned and deserving of execution. Mike Satz said Cruz “was hunting his victims” as he stalked a three-story classroom building at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for seven minutes, firing into some victims at close range and returning to some wounded victims as they lay helpless “to finish them off." “It is said that what one writes and says is a window into their soul,” Satz said as the three-month trial neared its conclusion.
news.yahoo.comFlorida school shooter may have been his own worst witness
It's possible Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz talked himself into a death sentence. Prosecutors played video last week at Cruz's penalty trial of jailhouse interviews he did this year with two of their mental health experts. In frank and sometimes graphic detail, he answered their questions about his massacre of 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018 — his planning, his motivation, the shootings.
news.yahoo.comSchool shooter chose Valentine's Day to ruin it forever
Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz calmly told a psychologist why he picked Valentine’s Day to massacre 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago: Because no one loved him, he wanted to ruin the holiday forever for anyone associated with the school. Prosecutors began wrapping up their rebuttal case Thursday by playing that video clip from jailhouse interviews Cruz did with their psychologist hoping it bolsters their contention that he wasn’t driven to kill by a mental disorder he couldn’t control, but planned his attack and chose to carry it out. Cruz’s attorneys have contended throughout the trial that his birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy left him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, causing brain dysfunctions that led to lifelong episodes of bizarre, erratic and sometimes violent conduct that culminated with the shootings.
news.yahoo.comTurkey farm workers charged with animal cruelty after being caught on video
Eleven people working for one of the nation's leading turkey producers have been charged with animal cruelty in Pennsylvania after state police said they were caught on video kicking, stomping and beating turkeys at several farms.
news.yahoo.comExpert: School shooter faked fetal alcohol symptoms
Prosecutors spent several hours Tuesday trying to prove Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz purposely did poorly on tests administered to see if he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the primary reason his attorneys say he murdered 17 people four years ago. During tests administered earlier this year by experts his attorneys hired, Cruz averaged 22 taps in 10 seconds. Prosecution neuropsychologist Robert Denney said the average male scores 51 on that test and a 22 would be a score only someone with a severe brain injury that causes physical stiffness would tally.
news.yahoo.comTestimony: School shooter drew swastikas, sought child porn
Prosecutors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz began their rebuttal of the defense case Tuesday by showing the jury swastikas he drew on a gun magazine and his boots, his online racism and misogyny and his online searches for child pornography. Prosecutors are trying to show that Cruz's murder of 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago was driven by antisocial personality disorder — commonly known as being a sociopath — and not fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as the defense contends. Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last October to the Feb. 14, 2018, murders — the trial is only to decide whether he is sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole.
news.yahoo.comHis sister died in the Parkland massacre. He wants the gunman to live.
A jury will decide whether Nikolas Cruz lives or dies for killing 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. Not all victims' relatives are convinced the death penalty will bring them a sense of justice.
washingtonpost.comJudge in Florida school shooter case refuses to step down
The judge overseeing the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz refused to step down Monday, rejecting a motion by his attorneys who accused her of being biased against their client and prejudicing the jurors who will decide if he should die for murdering 17 people four years ago. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer denied the motion, saying only it was legally insufficient. Scherer last week chewed out lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill and her team outside the jury's presence, accusing them of being “unprofessional” when they unexpectedly rested their case after only about 25 of the 80 witnesses they had told her and prosecutors they intended to testify had been called.
news.yahoo.comDefense seeks judge's removal in Florida school shooter case
Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself on Friday, two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses. The Broward Public Defender’s Office said in a motion that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer held a longstanding animosity toward lead defense lawyer Melisa McNeill. The motion cited Florida's Judicial Code of Conduct that states a judge shall disqualify himself or herself if the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party’s lawyer.
news.yahoo.comDefense lawyers in Parkland school shooting trial unexpectedly rest their case, causing heated exchange with judge
Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz have suddenly and surprisingly rested their case, leading to a heated exchange after the judge accused them of a lack of professionalism.
cbsnews.comAttorney: Florida school shooter was a 'damaged person'
The lead attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz told the jury in his penalty trial Monday they have witnessed “things that will haunt them for the rest of their lives,” but they now need to learn what led him to massacre of 17 people four years ago before they can decide whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole.
Defense attorneys in Florida school shooting try to withdraw
The public defenders representing Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz tried to withdraw from his death penalty trial after the judge ordered them to move forward with jury selection even though one member of their five-member team has COVID-19.