FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz still fantasizes about murdering people he hates. He smeared the devil’s “666″ on his cell wall recently, in his own blood, and drew disturbing sketches using a red Atomic FireBall candy. He’s glad he can wear a mask in court, he said, so the jurors can’t see him smile or laugh.
This is the person a team of defense lawyers — paid for by the public — must try to generate sympathy for, starting Monday, now that the prosecution has rested its case. Cruz pled guilty to gunning down 17 people and injuring 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018, so the trial is solely for sentencing — either life in prison, or the death penalty.
Creating a sympathetic storyline for jurors will require piecing together fragments. Buried in thousands of pages of depositions and court filings are shreds of remorse, little slivers of humanity, and hints that perhaps some of Cruz’s troubles were beyond his control — flickers the defense team will try to build a case from.
