The author of the killing in Parkland High School in Florida in 2018 escaped the death penalty on Thursday, October 13. After three months of a grueling trial, the jury opted for life imprisonment. Nikolas Cruz, whose sentence is incompressible, did not react to the reading of the verdict by judge Elizabeth Scherer, in a Fort Lauderdale court.
Relatives of the victims greeted the news with serious faces, with one nodding in disagreement. They will be able to speak at a hearing on November 1, during which the magistrate will formally ratify the sentence.
The death penalty narrowly avoided
After only seven hours of deliberation, the twelve jurors retained several aggravating circumstances, in particular on the character “hateful, atrocious and cruel” of the crime. But at least one of them felt that they were not enough to offset the mitigating circumstances.
It would have taken unanimity on this point for the death penalty to be retained, as the prosecution had requested. On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz, then 17 years old, sowed fear in Parkland, a small town north of Miami, by opening fire in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, from which he had been expelled a year earlier. .
In October 2021, he pleaded guilty to the 17 murders committed on this Valentine’s Day, those of 14 students and three adults, and 17 attempted murders, one for each injured. His trial was therefore aimed solely at determining the appropriate sentence.
The event had shocked beyond the United States. Then-President Donald Trump had aroused the indignation of part of American opinion by proposing in response to the tragedy, to arm teachers.