FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — If there’s one thing the mass shooter on trial for his life in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom has shown, it’s that he is in full control of his faculties, a prosecution expert testified Thursday.
Nikolas Cruz proved it time and again, said neuropsychologist Robert Denney, picking up his testimony where he left off on Tuesday. He proved it when he decided to kill three victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School because they gave him a “nasty look,” Denney said. He proved it when he timed his 17 murders because he wanted to “ruin” Valentine’s Day for the school. And he proved it when he scrawled a swastika, swear word and racial slur on his backpack and wore it to school.
Each of these was a behavior under the defendant’s control, Denney said. And none of it could be explained by the defense theory that Cruz suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
