Two of the jurors have received mental health counseling in the past, two of them have a relative that is a counselor or psychologist and one of them served on a mental health board, so the vote might not have been 11-1.

We have rules around here!

He will be sentenced for his seventeen attempted murder convictions by the judge on November 1st, and he's facing up to a life sentence (without parole) on each of those convictions (minimum of twenty years for each victim that was shot and minimum of twenty-five years for each victim that was shot and seriously injured). He will most likely receive seventeen consecutive life sentences for those convictions in addition to the seventeen consecutive life sentences he will receive for the murders.

You said his judge is very talented, but she's never presided over a death penalty trial before this case, so they should have picked a judge with more experience instead of her being randomly assigned to the case.

I seriously doubt he lives to a ripe old age. Either he commits suicide or gets killed by a fellow inmate inside 5 years. I doubt many guards will try to stop either outcome and I guarantee that death will be a lot more painful than if the state executed him.

The jury unanimously found four out of the seven aggravating factors to be true. The defense presented 41 mitigating factors.

Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed, was disappointed by the life sentence.

He told reporters after the verdict that Nikolas Cruz is "not a human being -- he's an animal."

"I pray that animal suffers every day of his life in jail. And that he has a short life," he said.

Aggravating factors: 1. The first-degree murder was committed by Cruz who was previously convicted of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to a person. Scherer said Cruz was convicted of a felony after the attack on Sgt. Ramon Beltran at the Broward County main jail and pleaded guilty to the 17 counts of attempted murder.

2. Cruz knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.

3. The first-degree murder was committed while Cruz was engaged in the commission of a burglary.

4. The first-degree murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.

5. The first-degree murder was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.

6. The first-degree murder was committed to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of any governmental function or the enforcement of laws. This applies to Hixon, Feis, and Beigel.

7. The victim of the capital felony was an elected or appointed public official engaged in the performance of his or her official duties if the motive for the capital felony was related, in whole or in part, to the victim's official capacity. This applies to Hixon, Feis, and Beigel.

The jury unanimously found the first, third, fourth and fifth aggravating factors to be true beyond a reasonable doubt.

A lot of people have gotten the death penalty for one murder, so it's weird that Nikolas Cruz didn't get it for seventeen murders.

I've said it before in this thread, but if he did it in Canada, he would get life with the possibility of parole after 25 years, but since he did it in America, he's never getting out. He pled guilty and life without parole is the minimum sentence, which means he can't appeal and his fate is sealed.

lethalninja said:

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I've said it before in this thread, but if he did it in Canada, he would get life with the possibility of parole after 25 years, but since he did it in America, he's never getting out. He pled guilty and life without parole is the minimum sentence, which means he can't appeal and his fate is sealed.

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prison beach?

Hope he gets the Dahmer exit in prison...

Have you seen the new Netflix show about him? I haven't, but I heard it's interesting.

What's a prison beach?

lethalninja said:

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A lot of people have gotten the death penalty for one murder, so it's weird that Nikolas Cruz didn't get it for seventeen murders.

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I think a lot of it depends on what state you're in. among other factors...

FireAg said:

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Hope he gets the Dahmer exit in prison...

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Let's hope it hurts at least this much for that **** head.

Florida has the second most people on death row out of all the states (California is first and Texas is third), so it's unusual that Nikolas Cruz didn't get the death penalty.

October 20th will be a year since he pled guilty to the shooting, so it took almost a year for the families to find out his sentence after he pled guilty.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9902827/amp/Parkland-shooter-Nikolas-Cruzs-career-criminal-sister-faces-LIFE-prison.html

His sister might be getting the same sentence as him

The reports say the the jury "recommended" life without parole…but I see nowhere that says the judge must go with the jury's recommendation…

What am I missing?

the actual sentencing will be on Nov 1

(3) IMPOSITION OF SENTENCE OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT OR DEATH.
(a) If the jury has recommended a sentence of:
1. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the court shall impose the recommended sentence.
2. Death, the court, after considering each aggravating factor found by the jury and all mitigating circumstances, may impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or a sentence of death. The court may consider only an aggravating factor that was unanimously found to exist by the jury.

I see…then why would the prosecution push for additional testimonies from families and victims?

What's the point?

It wouldn't affect his life sentences, but they have the right to make a statement after he's sentenced. He still has to be sentenced for the attempted murders, so some of those victims might testify after he's sentenced for those convictions as well.

Maybe the world will get lucky and he'll fall down the stairs on "accident" and break his neck at county before Nov 1…

He has 37 felony convictions (one for each victim of the shooting and three for assaulting the jail guard nine months after the shooting). He also has a misdemeanor conviction for assaulting the guard. He was already sentenced to the maximum 26 years for assaulting the guard, and when he's sentenced on November 1st, he will most likely get life without parole for each of the attempted murder convictions and the judge will make each sentence run consecutively, so his total sentence will be 34 consecutive life sentences without parole plus 26 years. For comparison, James Holmes (the Aurora theatre shooter) got twelve consecutive life sentences without parole plus 3,318 years.

Benjamin Thomas, the foreperson for the jury that recommended the Parkland school shooter be sentenced to life in prison, told CNN affiliate WFOR that three jurors voted against the death penalty.

"There was one with a hard 'no,' she couldn't do it, and there was another two that ended up voting the same way," said Thomas.

"(The hard no) didn't believe because he was mentally ill he should get the death penalty."

Jaime Guttenberg's father says jury's life recommendation makes next mass shooting more likely

None of the jurors looked in the direction of the victims' families as their verdicts were read, but instead looked down or straight ahead.

"You know, they used to do this, he would have been executed in six months. He's guilty. Everybody knew that from the beginning, and yet it takes years and years in this legal system that is not serving the interests of victims," DeSantis said.

"I'm disgusted with those jurors. I'm disgusted with the system," said Ilan Alhadeff, whose daughter, Alyssa, died in the shooting.

lethalninja said:

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Jaime Guttenberg's father says jury's life recommendation makes next mass shooting more likely

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I don't agree with him. I think most people who go out to murder people in this way are doing so knowing they will likely die. I'm not sure the death penalty is really a deterrent to someone who has already decided to carry out such an attack.

The jury foreman said it was 11-1.

The one juror who wouldn't vote for death told them at the start of deliberations that he/she was 100% against the death penalty for any reason and would not change his/her mind.

******* should never have been on the jury or should have been replaced because she clearly lied to get on the jury and get this outcome.

Very sad for the victims' families. It appears that they all wanted the death penalty and didn't get justice. Devastating. I can't let myself imagine how they feel. Unfathomable. This guy really is a special class of evil. I wish they could have made their wishes known during the penalty phase.

Rapier108 said:

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The jury foreman said it was 11-1.

The one juror who wouldn't vote for death told them at the start of deliberations that he/she was 100% against the death penalty for any reason and would not change her mind.

******* should never have been on the jury or should have been replaced because she clearly lied to get on the jury and get this outcome.

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No, he said it 9-3 with one juror being dead set on life in prison. Two more ended up voting that way but it was one woman who wouldn't budge.

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