MIAMI — A jury’s decision to hand out a life sentence for Parkland mass killer Nikolas Cruz will make it even more difficult to secure death sentences in the future — and could also spur Florida lawmakers to consider changing the state’s capital punishment law, legal experts say.
Cruz’s was the most high-profile capital case to go to sentencing since Florida lawmakers changed the law in 2017 to require juries to be unanimous in recommending execution, a requirement shared by nearly every other death-penalty state in the United States. With the trial being watched worldwide, and with ample evidence of the brutality of Cruz’s rampage, many legal observers had believed Cruz’s defense team faced an uphill battle in convincing a jury to spare his life.
So the 12-person jury’s decision Thursday to impose life without the possibility of parole surprised many.
