FORT LAUDERDALE — Wednesday is the 15th day of sentencing. Nicholas Cruzpleaded guilty in 2021 to charges of killing 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018.
Prosecutors seeking the death penalty dropped the case against Cruz on August 4, after 12 days of emotional testimony and graphic testimony of the shooting and its aftermath. A jury returned to court this week to hear for the first time Cruz’s defense in favor of a life sentence.
A 12-member jury will recommend whether Cruz, then 19 and now 23, should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. If he recommends the death penalty, Federal Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherrer could make a final ruling, likely this fall.
Follow Wednesday’s hearing live.
“Disturbing on many levels”: Jury Tour Stoneman Douglas High School Saved Crime Scene
Other than “Normal”: Absence, anguish and grief in the lives of Parkland victims’ families
Future plans: The indictment is over.Now Nicholas Cruz’s attorney must work to save his life.
Cruz ‘never was right’, neighbor says
Stephen Shussler lived across from the Cruz family in Parkland from 2009-2015. He divides his six years into his three periods. The middle of when he was friendly with him. And finally, when he got cautious.
“This is Niki,” said a neighbor one day when she introduced Schussler to Cruz.
According to Schuessler, this comment hit Cruz like salt to a snail.
“We knew something was wrong,” said Schusler.
He saw Cruz’s brother, Zachary, skating and playing with other boys across the street while Schuessler worked on a motorcycle. Cruz has never skated, Schusler said. He always seemed to stand out from the rest.
Schusler described a bizarre moment when he saw Cruz running outside his house and firing an airsoft gun “convulsively.” It was flapping, Schusler said. He demonstrated it for the jury.
Schusler said he called his public defender after watching Cruz’s guilty plea on television. He said it was important to him that they know, “This boy wasn’t bad. He was never right.”
Psychologist says 8-year-old Nicholas Cruz ‘sticks out like a thumb’
Dr. Frederick Kravitz, a former clinical psychologist, told jurors that he met Nicholas Cruz when he was eight years old. rice field. He looked and acted years younger than him and “sticked out like a thumb.”
Cruz was a “very weird kid,” he said.
He was at various times hyperactive, aggressive, fearful and withdrawn, and had a “very active bad imagination”. He was afraid his mother would forget to pick him up from school and get stuck.
When asked if Linda Cruz was ashamed of her sons, Kravitz nodded. He said it may have made it harder for her to engage in therapy because she felt judged by her other parents.He taught her how to discipline them. but she often threw up her hands instead.
“I think she really loved these kids, but I think she was overwhelmed,” Kravitz said of Cruise’s mother. ”
Her sons pushed her buttons as much as they pushed each other’s buttons.
According to Kravitz, Cruz had been diagnosed with ADHD, and his symptoms were consistent with it. Doctors didn’t know how much it was due to the fact that he was being bullied by his peers.
Cruz was submissive during the one-on-one exchange, Kravitz said. Doctors instructed him on what to do when he got upset: press his knuckles together and count to 10 to avoid hurting others, Kravitz said.
Prosecutor Jeff Marcus said, “Of course, we all know how this ended.
Marcus asked: Was there anything in his actions that predicted what was to come?
Kravitz shook his head. He has worked with other injured children in the past, but no one has done anything like this.
Hannah Phillips is a public safety and criminal justice journalist at The Palm Beach Post. You can contact her at [email protected]
This article originally appeared in the Palm Beach Post. Nikolas Cruz trial: Neighbors say the shooter “wasn’t bad.” he was never right.