Defense wraps up 2 weeks of testimony in Parkland shooter's sentencing trial
Fort Lauderdale - Defense attorneys wrapped up two weeks of testimony Friday in the sentencing trial of the Parkland shooter, making a case for mercy.
Henderson Behavioral Health Case manager Tiffany Forrest says back in 2013 when she visited Nikolas Cruz's home it was chaotic at best and abusive at worst.
"In going there frequently, you could see there was a lot of dysfunction," said Forrest.
The shooter was 14, and his widowed adoptive mother seemed overwhelmed raising the shooter and his younger brother Zachary.
"She felt Nikolas was being bullied at school and by his brother," she said.
His mother told her, the shooter had lots of outbursts, and Forrest says she noticed a door was broken, there were holes in the wall and a couch had cutting marks.
At his middle school, the picture wasn't much better.
"He was disrupting classes, pulling fire alarms and had poor grades," she said.
Defense attorneys only need one juror to agree to life in prison over a death sentence. A death penalty verdict must be unanimous.
They have tried to show the shooter had a lifelong pattern of violent behavior.
His birth mother, who is deceased, had a history of abusing drugs and alcohol.
In opening statements, his lead attorney argued 'His brain is broken.'
Prosecutors counter the shooter had a choice. He was offered psychiatric help, counseling and medication over many years but wilfully chose to kill 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
Retired Broward Sheriff's Office detective Jeffrey Smith recalled being on road patrol in 2011 and the shooter's adoptive mother calling for help.
Reading from a log, Smith said, "He hit her with the plastic hose of a vacuum cleaner."
The trial will be on hiatus until September 12th.