Prosecutors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will begin their rebuttal case Tuesday, challenging his attorneys' contention that he murdered 17 people because his birth mother abused alcohol during pregnancy.
will begin their rebuttal case Tuesday, challenging his attorneys' contention that he murdered 17 people because his birth mother abused alcohol during pregnancy, a condition they say went untreated.
Prosecutors will want to reemphasize Cruz"understood exactly" what he was doing during the massacre and could"formulate and carry out a plan," said David S. Weinstein, a Miami defense attorney and former prosecutor. Jurors may be eager to deliberate, so Satz should keep the rebuttal case focused and to the point, they said.Jarvis said lawyers too often think that if they just add more witnesses and evidence, that makes their case stronger. But in a trial like Cruz's where the decision isn't whether he's guilty but what sentence he deserves, Jarvis believes that by rebuttal each juror knows his or her vote. Any reconsideration won't come until deliberations.
He played security videos of the shooting and showed gruesome crime scene and autopsy photos. Teachers and students testified about watching others die. He took the jury to the fenced-off building, which remains blood-stained and bullet-pocked. Parents and spouses gave tearful and angry statements about their loss.
That will limit what the prosecution can raise in rebuttal — any evidence or testimony must have some tie to what the defense presented.
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