No Death Penalty, No Parole — Jury Recommends Life Sentence for Parkland Shooter

A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, reached a decision in the trial of Parkland mass shooter Nikolas Cruz Thursday, recommending a life sentence without possibility of parole for the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School attacker.

The jury was required to be unanimous for a death penalty recommendation, and at least one juror withheld support for the death penalty in the 17 verdicts for the murder victims.

ABC News reported that Cruz “pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.”

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer read the verdict dealing with each victim, each of which cited “mitigating circumstances” preventing a death penalty decision.

Thursday’s verdict came in the penalty phase of Cruz’s trial, after ABC News indicated his attorneys pointed out “failures in his upbringing.”

CNN noted that Cruz’s lawyers asked “jurors to spare the life of [Cruz],” asking them not to make decisions based on emotion.

Attorney Melisa McNeill, Cruz’s lead attorney, “asked jurors to sentence her client to life in prison, not the death penalty.”

Judge Scherer set sentencing of Cruz for November 1, Tuesday, at 9 a.m.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.