A unanimous jury has recommended Nikolas Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to CNN. The gunman massacred 17 people and injured 17 others in 2018 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It was the deadliest mass shooting at an American high school.
CNN reports “without the unanimous jury recommendation required under Florida law, Cruz’s sentence defaults to life, which the gunman’s defense attorneys had argued for, contending Cruz suffered throughout his life from mental disorders and developmental delays.”
Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty.
Cruz, who at the time of the mass shooting was 19-years old and a former student of the school, pleaded guilty one year ago to the murders of 14 students and three school staff.
“What he wanted to do, what his plan was and what he did, was to murder children at school and their caretakers,” the prosecutor, Michael Satz said of the mass murderer, Nikolas Cruz, CNN reported. “That’s what he wanted to do.”
Cruz’s defense attorney Melisa McNeill described him as a “brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own.”
The judge could overrule the jury, which is being seen as unlikely.
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change.