Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial, medical examiner details fatal wounds to students
FORT LAUDERDALE – It's the third week of the sentencing trial for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz.
On Monday, prosecutors again used autopsy information to demonstrate to the jury the devastating impact of the high-velocity weapon the shooter used to carry out his massacre more than four years ago.
Taking the stand as the first witness for the prosecution was former Associate Broward Medical Examiner Dr. Terrill Tops.
Dr. Tops testified that he performed the autopsy of students Joaquin Oliver and Luke Hoyer. He also performed the autopsy of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School football coach Aaron Feis.
In Dr. Tops' testimony, he shared graphic details of the injuries sustained by the school shooting victims, especially those of Oliver. The 17-year-old was shot and killed in the hallway outside of his classroom in the 1200 building at the school.
Dr. Tops told the jury that Oliver died from multiple gunshot wounds. He also vividly described the wounds Oliver sustained to his head. Oliver's mother, sister, and girlfriend wept during the testimony.
Luke Hoyer's injuries were also read aloud. He was shot twice walking back to his classroom on the first floor.
"A significant amount of bleeding, the bleeding went into his right chest cavity and started compressing his lungs, by basically drowning his and compressing his lungs," said Dr. Tops
Hoyer's mother and father listened in the audience, wiping their tears.
BSO Det. Ronald Faircloth testified that he did a forensic analysis of the shooter's cell phone. He showed messages and searches that indicated the shooter had planned the mass killing for some time.
The jury was also shown cell phone videos the shooter made days before the mass shooting where he outlined his deadly plan.
Monday afternoon the jury began to hear victim impact statements on how the sudden loss of loved ones has forever changed their lives.
The testimony brought members of the shooter's defense team to tears.
Kelly Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina was killed in the shooting, tearfully explained how heartbreaking it is to never see the daughter who "loved to help" grow up and have a family of her own one day.
Her distraught sister, Meghan Petty, said, "The world has lost an angel."
Cruz's biological sister, Danielle Woodard, spoke out on Monday, saying she wanted to testify for her brother in court.
Woodard, 35, is currently in jail at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Woodard also has an extensive criminal background, including attempted felony murder, arrest with violence, and fraud.
"I wonder myself, what she could legally say that's admissible and relevant," says legal analyst Maria Schneider.
Schneider, a former state attorney prosecutor, says the goal for Cruz's attorneys is to humanize him as much as possible.
Woodard could tell jurors about their mother's alleged substance abuse – but she wasn't raised with Cruz.
"It'll be costly, it'll take a lot of arranging, but it can be done," says Schneider.