#NIKOLAS CRUZ TRIAL#

For Cruz to be sentenced to death, the jury must be unanimous - if even one juror votes for life, that will be his sentence. McNeill deferred her opening statement from the trial’s first day of July 18 to the beginning of her team’s case.

#NIKOLAS CRUZ TRIAL#

RELATED: Jury in Parkland shooter trial gets rare look at bloodstained school building frozen in time But she hopes jurors will remember that the law 'never requires you to vote for death,' not even 'in the worst case imaginable, and it’s arguable that this is the worst case imaginable.' 'Everyone knows there is one person responsible for all that pain and all of that suffering, and that person is Nikolas Cruz,' she said. She said nothing in Cruz’s life story will erase that the seven men, five women and 10 alternates have 'seen things that will haunt us forever.' Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and the trial will only decide his sentence. McNeill told the jury that doesn’t excuse what her 23-year-old client did, but are factors they should consider as her team presents its case over several weeks. His lead attorney, Melisa McNeill, told the jury during her deferred opening statement that Cruz has fetal alcohol and drug issues that weren’t dealt with adequately by his adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, who suffered from severe depression and financial woes after her husband died suddenly when their son was 5. 14, 2018, shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Defense gets underwayĬruz’s attorneys began their defense Monday, hoping to convince his jury to sentence him to life without parole instead of death for slaying 14 students and three staff members during the Feb. The lead attorney for confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz told the jury in her opening statements on Monday that 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 17 people on Valentine's Day four years ago before they can decide whether to sentence him to death or life without parole. RELATED: Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz thinks he will get out of prison, defense mental health expert saysĭefense gives opening statements in Parkland shooter penalty trial He wrote: 'I do not want life please help me go to death row!' On one page he scrawled the very issue at stake in his trial, where the jury will decide whether he will get the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison.

I only wanna see blood fall,' he wrote on one page, adding that he hopes there is another mass shooting.Īt one point, he writes about his loneliness and his desire to be buried with a woman after his death. 'I do not want to be bothered by anyone or anything. He states he does not believe in a god, only the devil. Others show monstrous faces, pentagrams and the words 'Hail Satan!' On page after page, he scrawled three 6s - said to be the mark of the anti-Christ. Several drawings show automatic weapons and various ammunition.

RELATED: Parkland shooter trial: Defense details Nikolas Cruz's troubled past that left him 'damaged' prior to massacre Cruz's drawings made public

Nikolas cruz