The lead prosecutor and attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz have made their closing arguments over whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison
into some victims at close range and returned to wounded victims as they lay helpless"to finish them off."
McNeill said neither Cruz nor herself has ever denied what he did and that “he knew right from wrong and he chose wrong.” But she said the former Stoneman Douglas student is “a broken, brain-damaged, mentally ill young man,” doomed from conception by the heavy drinking and drug use of his birth mother during pregnancy. She argued for a sentence of life without parole, assuring them he will never walk free again.
Cruz, dressed in an off-white sweater, sat impassively during the presentations, occasionally exchanging notes with his attorneys. A large number of the victims’ parents, wives and family members packed their section of the courtroom, many of them weeping during Satz's presentation. The mother of a murdered 14-year-old girl fled the courtroom before bursting into loud sobs in the hallway. Just minutes earlier, the families had greeted each other with smiles, handshakes and hugs.
McNeill during her presentation acknowledged the horror Cruz inflicted and said jurors have every right to be angry, “but how many times have we made decisions based solely on anger and regretted it?”by his birth mother, Brenda Woodard, during pregnancy left him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She said that accounts for his bizarre, troubling and sometimes violent behavior starting at age 2.
She pleaded with the jurors to give Cruz a life sentence, telling them that even if they are the only holdout they shouldn't fear what the reaction will be from the families or the community.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Parkland School Shooter May Have Been His Own Worst WitnessFlorida school shooter Nikolas Cruz may have talked himself into a death sentence.
Read more »
Prosecutor makes final case for school shooter’s executionThe prosecutor said Cruz “was hunting his victims” as he stalked the school, firing his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle into some victims at close range and returning to wounded victims as they lay helpless “to finish them off.”
Read more »
Prosecutor makes final case for school shooter’s executionThe lead prosecutor of Nikolas Cruz made his final push to persuade jurors to sentence him to death, telling them during his closing argument that the attack that killed 17 people was cold, calculated and meticulously planned and deserving of execution.
Read more »
Prosecutor makes final case for school shooter's executionThe lead prosecutor of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz has made his final case to persuade jurors to sentence him to death
Read more »
UNC once barred Black students. Now it’s fighting for affirmative action.The gatekeepers of UNC-Chapel Hill consider race and ethnicity, among many factors, when they sift tens of thousands of applications a year to decide who will get in. Now a plaintiff is urging the high court to declare the method unconstitutional.
Read more »