The son of the athletic director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killed in the 2018 shooting left the courtroom as the verdict of the jury was read aloud.
Corey Hixon, son of Chris Hixon, could be seen leaving the room as the judge read the recommendation that Nikolas Cruz be spared the death penalty.
Cruz killed Mr Hixon, who entered the school to try to stop the shooting, as well as 16 others. Mr Hixon was 49 years old.
The jury found that the aggravating factors rose to the level of the death penatly, but that they were outweighed by the mitigating factors outlined by the defence.
Debbi Hixon, the wife of Mr Hixon, told reporters after the verdict: “I’m just completely devastated and shocked by this”.
“How does any one of those mitigators outweigh those aggravating factors that they all agreed were true?” she asked. “How do you say ‘yes, it’s cruel’, that it was heinous, that it was planned, and we all agree on that, but oh, he might have had a mental illness or he had trouble growing up.”
“There is no way that you could look at those mitigating circumstances and believe for one second, that they outweigh the aggravators and that the life of that person is more important,” she added.
Cruz will be sentenced next month.
“I have a son with special needs. I have a son that checked all of those boxes or a lot of those boxes that the shooter did as well. And you know what? My son's not a murderer. My son is the sweetest person that you could ever meet,” Ms Hixon told the press.
“He had the best upbringing his mother could give them but even if he didn't, how does that outweigh cruel, heinous plans? It doesn't. It just doesn't. I don't care who you are,” she added. “There is no way that you could look at those mitigating circumstances and believe for one second, that they outweigh the aggravators and that the life of that person is more important. And more valuable than the life of the 17 that were taken. And all of the other people that lived through that trauma every single day.”
Many of those injured by Cruz when he opened fire appeared as witnesses to describe the horrors of that day, but in the final phase of the prosecution’s case, the jury heard victim impact statements from family members of those who died that day.
In one of many heartbreaking moments, Corey, son of Chris Hixon — the school’s athletic director and wrestling coach who died trying to save students — appeared alongside his mother to tell the jury about his father.
After being asked who his father was, Corey, who has special needs, shyly leaned toward his mother when asked what he would like to tell the jury about his dad.
Debbi Hixon reassured her son, and through tears, he said loudly: “I miss him,” before hugging his mother.
Asked to tell the jury if he had another story about donuts, with whispered encouragement from his mother, he said: “Every Saturday we ran to Dunkin’ Donuts and walked back.”
“I try to explain to people when they say ‘how are you doing on the grieving process?’ that I don’t think – until we get to the other side of the trial – any of us have even got to the true start of the grieving process,” Ms Hixon told The Independent before the sentencing trial began. “We live it every day. It’s a movie that runs in my head all the time. I don’t even know if we will have closure at the end of it but it’s just been constant anticipation as we knew that we would have to see him in court and see him on TV. So I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s starting – I’m not glad but we can’t get to the end until it starts.”
For Debbi and her two sons, “everything changed” that day when her husband and their father was killed.
“Everything changes when that happens,” she said.
“For me, personally, I spent more than half of my life with Chris being my life. I talk to him every day. I do the best I can and sometimes that’s better than others.”
Oliver O’Connell and Rachel Sharp contributed reporting.
