Following a one week break, the sentencing trial for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz resumed earlier this week in Florida, where the then 19-year-old murdered 17 students and staff members in a mass shooting on 14 February 2018.
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for what is among the worst school shootings in US history. Jurors will now decide whether to sentence him to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors have spent three weeks presenting graphic details of how Cruz plotted and carried out the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with footage of him calmly going to a nearby Subway and McDonald’s in the immediate aftermath and heartbreaking testimony from the victims’ families.
The defence is now presenting its case, where it is seeking to show that Cruz suffered from behavioural and developmental issues and endured a troubled upbringing – and did not receive the intervention he needed.
So far this week, his attorneys have presented testimony from experts in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) who said that Cruz was impacted by his exposure to alcohol in the womb.
