Accused Florida school shooter pleads guilty in 2018 Parkland massacre
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[October 21, 2021]
By Brendan O'Brien
(Reuters) -Accused shooter Nikolas Cruz
pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of
attempted murder in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland, Florida, the deadliest ever at a U.S. high
school.
At a hearing, Cruz, 23, stood hunched over and entered one guilty plea
at a time as the judge read off the charges. His lawyer, David Wheeler,
Broward County's chief assistant public defender, said last week Cruz
intended to plead guilty in the Valentine's Day attack.
Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental health
and behavioral issues at the time of the "cold, calculated and
premeditated" killings, Broward County's State's Attorney Office said in
court documents.
After the pleas were entered, Cruz removed his COVID-19 mask and
apologized to his victims.
"I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day,"
he said. "And that if I were to get a second chance I will do everything
in my power to try to help others ... I have to live with this every
day, and it brings me nightmares that I can't live with myself
sometimes."
Cruz wore a dark blue sweater vest above a blue shirt. He was thin and
had on large glasses. His hands clutched the wooden podium he stood at
while the judge spoke to him.
As a prosecutor read a detailed account of the incident, relatives and
friends of the victims sat in the courtroom gallery, wiping tears from
their eyes and holding each other.
Because prosecutors have vowed to seek the death penalty, his change of
plea from not guilty opens the penalty phase. A jury would decide
whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or death.
In Florida, juries determine whether to impose a death sentence. If
prosecutors are not willing to drop the potential death penalty as part
of any plea deal that may be struck with Cruz, then a jury would decide.
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Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz appears at the Broward County
Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. October 20, 2021. Cruz
pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the deadliest
ever at a U.S. high school. Amy Beth Bennett/Pool via REUTERS
Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer
scheduled jury selection for the penalty phase in the case to begin
on Jan. 4. She also set a status hearing for Oct. 26.
During a hearing last week, Cruz pleaded guilty to assault and
battery of a law enforcement officer in a separate case in which he
was accused of kicking, hitting and punching a sheriff's deputy as
well as attempting to remove his Taser in a November 2018 jail
attack.
Before accepting his guilty pleas, Scherer asked him if he
understood the impact the assault case could have in the penalty
phase of the murder case.
"Sir, I need to advise you that the state is going to be using this
conviction in this case as evidence of an aggravating factor for
purposes of arguing in favor of the death penalty. Do you understand
that?" Scherer asked Cruz.
"Yes, ma'am," Cruz responded.
Some of the teenagers who survived the deadly rampage formed "March
for Our Lives," an organization that called for gun control
legislation such as a ban on assault-style rifles.
In March 2018, the group held a nationally televised march in
Washington that sparked hundreds of similar rallies worldwide. Cruz
was 18 when he legally purchased from a licensed gun dealer the
AR-15 rifle used in the shooting.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill
Berkrot and Steve Orlofsky)
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