A U.S. jury on Thursday rejected a death sentence for Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people at his former Florida high school, and chose a life sentence with no chance of parole.
The jury deliberated all day on Wednesday and some time on Thursday before deciding that Cruz, 24, should receive life in prison for the February 2018 murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
In order to reach a death penalty, there must be consensus among the 12 jurors, which has not happened.
As the verdict was read, Cruz stared blankly at the defense table as several of the victims’ relatives shook their heads in disbelief.
Cruz pleaded guilty last year and prosecutors argued at trial that the appropriate punishment was the death penalty.
Melisa McNeill, Cruz’s attorney, urged the jurors to show mercy to a young man she described as “mentally ill” and “brain-damaged.”
Source: DN
