Nikolas Cruz sentenced to life in prison for 2018 slayings at Parkland school
FORT LAUDERDALE - Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was formally sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without parole after two days of raw, emotional testimony from the loved ones of the 17 people who were gunned down five years ago and those who survived his attack.
Cruz did not comment before Judge Elizabeth Scherer read over 30 counts of murder and attempted murder that he was convicted of.
Cruz also showed no emotion during the sentencing even as those in the audience wept, shook their heads, or looked on as the process played out.
The judge's voice broke as she read the first sentences, but she gained strength and volume as she moved down the list. Scherer had no other choice in the sentence. The jury in Cruz's three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.
Scherer made no comments directed at Cruz beyond what was legally required. Instead, the judge commended the victims' families and the wounded.
"You all have been so strong and patient and graceful throughout this process," Scherer said before she formally sentenced Cruz. "I can't help but think how I would feel, behave or respond if I were in your shoes."
After Scherer handed down the sentencing, she left the bench and went to the floor and hugged several people who were in the courtroom.
The sentencing capped two days of gripping testimony from those who addressed the court.
"It was extremely painful to hear all the horrific details of this massacre at our children's high school," Annika Dworet, who with her husband, Mitch, attended every day of Cruz's trial. "Just to be in the same room as this monster who killed our son Nicholas and attempted to murder our son Alex. It's unbearable."
Cruz, 24 and a former Stoneman Douglas student, pleaded guilty last year to the massacre, where he stalked a three-story classroom building for seven minutes, firing 140 shots with a semi-automatic rifle.
He will be taken within days to the Florida prison system's processing center near Miami before he is assigned to a maximum-security facility. Experts say he will likely be placed into protective custody, perhaps for years, before he is released into the prison's general population.
Dworet continued, "One of the most disgusting and unprofessional actions that occurred in this courtroom was the defense team holding, touching and giggling with this cold-blooded murderer."
Cruz, shackled and wearing a red jail jumpsuit, stared at the speakers but showed little emotion, as he did the day before.
When Jennifer Guttenberg, mother of victim Jaime Guttenberg, got up to speak, she started by admonishing Cruz for hiding his face and expressions behind a blue COVID mask, prompting Cruz to remove the face covering.
Many of those who spoke wished him a painful demise and lamented that he could not be sentenced to death.
"You deserve the opportunity to rot away," David Alhadeff, the uncle of Alyssa Alhadeff, told Cruz via Zoom from his classroom in Maryland. "You deserve the opportunity to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this courtroom. You deserve the opportunity of knowing that justice will prevail at some point, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day."
Others said that after leaving court Wednesday, they would try not to think of him again.
"It was extremely painful to hear all the horrific details of this massacre at our children's high school," Annika Dworet, who with her husband, Mitch, attended every day of Cruz's trial. "Just to be in the same room as this monster who killed our son Nicholas and attempted to murder our son Alex. It's unbearable."
Emotions ran high on the first day of the sentencing hearing as those who spoke said everything they couldn't as they sat quietly during the sentencing trial.
"How could you sit there listening and say this is not the worst of the worst? He hunted down innocent children and staff, terrified. He tortured them. Blew their heads apart like a water balloon and enjoyed it," said Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex died when he was shot through a classroom window.
Speaking at Cruz but refusing to say his name, he said he hopes "other prisoners you will encounter in your new life will inflict that pain upon you, hopefully, 17 times over again, until you are screaming for mercy, just like your victims."
Those who spoke stood at a lectern about 20 feet from Cruz, stared him in the eye, and let out their anger and grief, with many telling the 24-year-old they hope his remaining years are filled with the fear and pain he inflicted.
Many also criticized a Florida law that requires jury unanimity for a death sentence to be imposed - Cruz's jurors voted 9-3 on October 13th for a sentence of death.
"He has escaped this punishment because a minority of the jury was given the power to overturn the majority decision made by people who were able to see him for what he is - a remorseless monster who deserves no mercy," Meghan Petty said.
Her younger sister, 14-year-old Alaina, died when Cruz fired his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle into her classroom.
During the penalty trial, the prosecution brought in experts and revealed evidence that showed Cruz had been planning the shooting for seven months.
"A person has to be incredibly sick to want to hurt another human being. Even sicker to dwell on the desire and craft a plan and unimaginably evil to execute that plan, which didn't just hurt people but ended lives," she said. "To add insult to murder he was even arrogant enough to plan a disguise believing that he'd be able to escape his actions while my sister lay dying on a dirty classroom floor."
Anne Ramsay recounted the last text she got from her 17-year-old daughter Helena, thanking her for the Valentine's cookie she had packed for her. That afternoon, Helena also died when Cruz fired into her classroom.
She said she had mixed feelings before the trial about whether Cruz should get the death penalty, but after hearing the evidence she has no doubt that would have been the proper punishment.
"You are pure evil," she told Cruz.
Anthony Montalto III, whose older sister, 14-year-old Gina, was murdered by a bullet fired point-blank into her chest, said he was at the neighboring middle school and heard the gunshots. He said he felt a pain in his chest - he believes it was a sign of his sister's death.
"To go from a younger brother to an only child ... is a dramatic change for anyone," he said.
He then criticized the defense claim that excessive drinking by Cruz's birth mother during pregnancy caused brain damage that led to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the shooting.
"This reality I now live in is an unfortunate truth. An even more unfortunate truth is that this country has forgotten who the victim is. The murderer is not a victim of drinking during pregnancy. He is not a victim of mental health issues. He is a murdering bastard who should be made an example of," Montalto said.
