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Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty in November to the premeditated
murder of 14 students and three members of the staff at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles north
of Fort Lauderdale. A jury will now determine whether the judge
should sentence him to life in prison or the death penalty.
Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who is presiding
over the proceedings, said on Monday that jury selection should
take until about May 31, according to local media. The penalty
phase could last several months, legal experts have said.
Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental
health and behavioral issues at the time of the killings,
prosecutors said last year.
Under Florida law, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to
recommend that a judge sentence Cruz to be executed. If any of
the 12 jurors objects, Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
Among the mitigating factors the defense will ask the jury to
consider are Cruz's brain damage from his mother's drug and
alcohol abuse during pregnancy, his long history of
mental-health disorders, and allegations he was sexually abused
and bullied.
Some of the teenagers who survived Cruz's 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-style rifle used in the shooting.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Daniel
Wallis and Leslie Adler)
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