Parkland jury foreman on shooter's sentencing: "It didn't go the way I would've liked"
Just after a jury in Florida spared the gunman convicted of killing 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the death penalty, jury foreman Benjamin Thomas told CBS Miami he did not agree with the decision.
"I don't like how it turned out, but that's how the jury system works," he said.
Offering insight into how the decision was made, Thomas said one juror believed that because the gunman was mentally ill he should not get the death penalty. He said that in addition to the one juror who was a "hard no," two others ended up voting the same way.
Because that one juror knew they would vote against the death penalty, the jury didn't take too long to deliberate. "So we voted and we moved on," he said.
Nikolas Cruz, the man who shot and killed 14 students and three staff members at the Parkland school on Valentine's Day in 2018, received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday. Under Florida law, a death sentence can only be handed down if jurors had unanimously recommended he be executed.
Cruz pleaded guilty last October.
Thomas said he understands why some of the victims' families are disappointed by the outcome.
"It didn't go the way I would've liked, or the way I voted, but that's how the jury system works. Everybody gets their vote. Everybody gets to decide," he said. "We went through all of the evidence, and some of the jurors just felt that was the appropriate sentence."
Thomas added that it was difficult to see the families' emotions as the decision was read in the courtroom on Thursday.
"It hurts," he said. "I feel bad for them, it hurts."
When asked what it was like to serve on the jury in this case, he said it was awful. "A lot of things you never wanted to see — and you never want to see again," Thomas said.
"Don't get me wrong, the people at the courthouse were great, the judge was great, the lawyers were great, it was just really hard subject matter," he said.
However, he said he would serve on another jury if called.
"This has been really hard on my heart," he said. "I'd rather not have to see something like this ever again."