FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Empty bedrooms. Empty dining room chairs. The scent of a book. Each seemingly mundane item holds trauma for the family members of a Parkland victim, the fathers, mothers and friends told jurors who will decide the sentence for the confessed school shooter.
The jury is considering evidence and testimony in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, who confessed to murdering 17 students and staff on Valentine’s Day 2018, and shot and injured another 17. Prosecutors are seeking the death sentence.
The last of the victim impact statements delivered on Wednesday in the Broward County Courthouse cannot be considered a mitigating factor, Judge Elizabeth Scherer warned the jury for the third day. Still, raw emotions were on display.
