Florida Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentenced the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting’s perpetrator Nikolas Cruz to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole Wednesday.
A jury recommended sentencing Cruz to life without the possibility of parole on Oct. 13 , rather than unanimously voting for the death penalty. He had pleaded guilty in October 2021 for murdering 14 students and three teachers as well 17 attempted murders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (RELATED: Shooting Breaks Out At Halloween Party With Roughly 100 High-Schoolers, Leaving 1 Dead And Six Injured)
WATCH:
Florida law requires a court to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole if a jury recommends it.
Prosecutors said the mass shooting was premeditated and calculated, referencing Cruz’s online search history prior to the killings and social media statements expressing murderous desire, according to CNN. His defense argued for life in prison and no parole possibility, with attorney Melisa McNeill saying, “His brain is broken; he’s a damaged human being.”
After the jury made its recommendations, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed disappointment that Cruz was not sentenced to death.
“I think that if you have a death penalty at all, that that is a case where you’re massacring those students with pre-meditation and utter disregard for basic humanity, that you deserve the death penalty,” DeSantis said.
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