Nicholas Cruz who was 19 when he shot and killed 17 people at Parkland HS on Valentines Day so as to ruin it for everyone (his words). Defense was Cruz’s mom was alcoholic when pregnant and he suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and should therefore receive life in prison. I’m not a supporter of the death penalty and it’s cases like this that really try that belief. There is no doubt as to his guilt - he admitted to it all. But there are far too many defendants whose guilt is less certain or who are even, in fact, innocent who receive death. Jury felt mitigating factors outweighed aggravating factors - at least enough of them The jury says life. Judge will pronounce sentence later. Will almost certainly have to sentence him to life per the jury.
Hopefully he’s in solitary confinement for life. Edit: maybe they can let him spend every Valentine’s Day in gen pop and the other 364 days of the year in the hole.
Life in prison or flat out killing him would’ve been just imo. Hope the families of the victims receive a little closure.
Yep, those were the only 2 options available to the jury: life in prison or death. Not sure the families will ever be able to move past it. There will always be a hole in their family that was once a loved one.
I echo @ursidman's feelings about the death penalty. That said, he's a monster. Why spend taxpayer $ supporting his worthless life?
If a case like this doesn’t get the death penalty, there is no point to having the death penalty. My take on the death penalty is it should be reserved for egregious cases like this.
It’s actually cheaper to keep them in jail than to kill them. https://sites.psu.edu/bleonard/2020...years on death row saved the state $773,736.” for me, I prefer prison to the DP for a variety of reasons. So I am fine with this, but had he gotten the DP I certainly wouldn’t be crying over it.
It’s my understanding that the death penalty recommendation has to be unanimous in Florida. And that although the FL Supreme Court ruled in 2019 to overturn that law to accept a mere majority, that the legislature has not moved to create that law. Maybe one of the lawyers could correct errors in this.
It's something I've changed my mind on over the years. I don't like the death penalty anymore. But if ever there was a candidate, he is it. There is no doubt he is guilty.
Likewise. I’ve changed my position over the years as well. I’ve read that Florida leads the country in the exoneration of prisoners from death row. 30 death row inmates have been exonerated from FL’s death row. Sobering statistic- horrible mistakes are made. Innocence | Death Penalty Information Center
He is no doubt guilty and this is not an instance in which the question over the death penalty is about whether or not he is guilty. But I still feel that the state should not possess the right to kill a person who is not actively threatening another person's safety now. It is killing in my name (as we are all fundamentally the state at some level), and I don't approve of that, even for people who have done things as horrible as this person did. Put him in jail for the rest of his life and hope that he does something positive going forward.
It doesn't cost a thing to let the families take baseball bats to his head and toss him in an unmarked hole.
People who have done horrible things have later done positive things. Control his capabilities of doing future horrible things and see if anything positive comes about from the rest of his life. If no, then we saved money by not killing him (the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison). If yes, then, while he will never be able to "make up" for what he did, he would have at least mitigated some small amount of what he did. I don't think the state should be pulling away people's abilities to do that if they can prevent them from inflicting future harm, which they can by sticking him in solitary for the rest of his life. It is not because I am excusing what he did or don't believe it worthy of punishment. I just don't like the state having the power to kill in my name through the legal system.
We will agree to disagree. He is a worthless pos whose life has zero merit. Put him down like the sick dog he is.
I'm not a proponent of the death penalty, but it's cost analysis is insane. The idea that instant death costs more than possibly 60 years of food, shelter, staffing etc is insane. A bullet isnt that expensive.
Should be shot 8-10 times like he did several of those defenseless kids. I’m sure there’s someone in general population who could effectuate that outcome. How much do 8 bullets cost?
