FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — His guilt was never really in question. Now he’s making it official.
Nikolas Cruz, the man who terrorized Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School just minutes before school let out on Valentine’s Day 2018 is standing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, slouching, flanked by his defense lawyers, declaring himself guilty, one by one, of 17 counts of murder and guilty of 17 counts of attempted murder.
“The maximum penalty is death,” the judge warned him, adding that the minimum sentence is life. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he said. He wanted to say something to the families of the victims. Not yet, the judge said before listing the attempted murder victims. For each of those counts, he faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
The families of the slain and at least one surviving victim glared at him as he entered the courtroom. Two cried. Others looked straight ahead, waiting for the judge to take the bench. When the guilty pleas started, the parents of the murdered children were stoic.
In terms of criminal justice, there’s only one question left without an easy answer: Will the state of Florida execute Cruz as punishment for the lives he ended, or will a jury show him the mercy he denied to those who crossed his path that awful day?
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