An expert in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) has testified that he has “never seen” a woman abuse alcohol while pregnant as much as Nikolas Cruz’s biological mother.
Dr Kenneth Jones took the witness stand on Tuesday as the defence continues to build its case that the mass murderer suffered from brain damage and struggled with severe behavioural problems because of his exposure to alcohol in the womb.
Dr Jones, one of the nation’s leading FASD researchers who has a dedicated clinic for children prenatally exposed to alcohol, testified that Cruz’s biological mother drank more during her pregnancy than any woman he has ever come across in his 50-year career.
“I don’t think I have ever seen — I know I have never seen — so much alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman,” he said.
Dr Jones, who told jurors he was not being paid to testify, also said that he had never had so much documentation as evidence of a patient’s prenatal alcohol exposure.
“I have never, ever in my life seen an individual who has been affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol in which there is documentation – and I think pretty darn good documentation — of alcohol exposure,” he said.
Dr Jones has worked with more than 1,000 people exposed to alcohol in the womb during his career, he told the court.
Official records and prior witness testimony have revealed that Cruz’s biological mother Brenda Woodard abused alcohol while she was pregnant with the future mass shooter.
Cruz was then adopted by Lynda and Roger Cruz as a baby and began showing behavioural and developmental issues from an early age, multiple witnesses have testified.
Dr Jones testified on Tuesday about the risks alcohol poses to a fetus, saying that it is far more dangerous than all other drugs combined.
“You can take all of the illicit drugs that you can think of — heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine — you can wrap them up in a single bag and they don’t hold a candle to alcohol in terms of its effects of a developing baby,” he told the court.
Dr Jones said that Cruz “without any question” fulfils the criteria of someone with an FASD from his exposure to alcohol before birth.
He explained that FASD is an umbrella term that includes conditions such as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND).
While FAS sufferers have specific facial features, ARND sufferers do not have physical features revealing their conditions but suffer from neurobehavioural abnormalities. Dr Jones said that ARND sufferers are often worse affected because they are not as easily identified and so don’t receive the intervention that they need.
Cruz does not have the defining facial features of FAS but meets the criteria of an ARND sufferer, he told the court.
This criteria is: that the individual has been prenatally exposed to alcohol, that they are greater than three years of age, and that they are diagnosed based on neuro-cognitive or behavioural impairments.
The expert said that Cruz “without any question” has neuro-cognitive impairment, with problems with executive function, memory and visual spatial impairment, he said
Dr Jones testified that people with FASD often lack friends, are hyperactive, do unsafe things, become aggressive, are disruptive in school and have temper tantrums – behaviours that the court has previously heard Cruz has.
In a startling statement, Dr Jones testified that FASD can cause people to commit murders.
When asked by the defence if FASD “in and of itself cause people to commit murder”, he replied “yes” and confirmed that he had worked with other murderers who also suffer from FASD
Under cross-examination, Dr Jones was asked about evidence that shows Cruz planned the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre and whether that contradicts the behaviours of someone with FASD.
Dr Jones confirmed to lead prosecutor Mike Satz that someone with ARND – the type of FASD that he believes Cruz has – struggles with planning and organisation.
“Problems with planning is something that children with that have,” he said.
Mr Satz then went on to detail the research and planning that Cruz carried out in the months leading up to the mass shooting, where he murdered 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In August 2017, the prosecutor said that Cruz conducted internet searches for the Columbine massacre and for the white supremacist attack in Charlottesville.
That June, he also searched online for information about the San Diego massacre at a McDonald’s restaurant where 21 people were killed. He also carried out other searches about mass shootings in Las Vegas and Montreal.
The prosecutor said that the dates were important because they were all prior to the death of Cruz’s adoptive mother Lynda in November 2017.
On 10 February 2018 – four days before the massacre and around four months after Lynda’s death – Cruz then carried out searches about mass murders in schools.
Dr Jones said that he wasn’t aware of the internet searches or the planning that Cruz had executed prior to the mass shooting.
His testimony came on the heels of another FASD expert who testified on both Monday and Tuesday.
Dr Paul Connor said that he carried out neuropsychological testing on Cruz and found that he had deficits in nine out of 11 domains.
The neuropsychologist said an individual with deficits in three or more domains is consistent with having an FASD.
The argument that Cruz has FASD is a key part of the defence’s strategy to try to convince jurors to spare his life as they claim that birth defects, anti-social behaviour disorders and a troubled upbringing all contributed to him carrying out what remains one of the worst mass shootings in US history.
At the start of the defence’s case, Woodard’s daughter Danielle Woodard – Cruz’s biological half-sister – and Woodard’s former friend Carolyn Deakins both testified that they saw Woodard continue to drink, take drugs and smoke during her pregnancy with Cruz.
During the defence’s opening statement on 22 August, lead public defender Melisa McNeill said that Cruz suffers from FASD because of Woodard’s alcohol abuse.
Ms McNeill said that the “choices” Cruz made on Valentine’s Day 2018 all began with the “choices” made by his biological mother when she “poisoned him in the womb”.
“His brain is broken. He is a damaged human being,” she said.
“His prenatal vitamins consisted of... Bum wine, crack cocaine and cigarettes... Because of that his brain is irretrievably broken.”
Cruz was 19 when he travelled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018 armed with an AR-15 style rifle.
He opened fire on students and staff inside the freshman building, killing 14 students and three staff members.
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder back in October.
Jurors will now decide whether he should receive the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
