Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to Parkland school shooting

[brooklynite]

Source: Axios

Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday pleaded guilty on all counts for carrying out the 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead, including 14 students and three staff members.

Driving the news: Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty at a hearing on Wednesday to 17 murder counts and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder for carrying out the deadly shooting.

The case now turns to a penalty phase, where a 12-person jury will determine Cruz's sentencing, AP reports.

Cruz last week also plead guilty to attacking a jail guard nine months after the shooting.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/nikolas-cruz-pleads-guilty-parkland-shooting-84e3ce00-ad65-46e8-a3e1-a4afcd1e0d87.html

[drexelkathy]

1. I can't beliebe

That’s this has taken this long. Ridiculous.

[NQAS]

5. That's what I was going to ask

Why did this take three years?

[brooklynite]

15. Why do so many people think criminal justice is as fast as it is on LAW & ORDER?

[SpankMe]

21. An 18-month Covid shutdown

Plus defense bargaining for life instead of death. These processes take time.

All in all, this has actually been pretty fast. The Boston Marathon bomber case is still nowhere close to being resolved, and that was in 2015.

It took 6 years to execute McVeigh for the Oklahome City bombing, and that was with overwhelming evidence.

[obamanut2012]

7. Because he had the right to have it take this long

Now, he will serve out the rest of his life in a probably unairconditioned Florida state prison, and by pleading guilty will spare the families and living student victims a devastating trial.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Kudos to his attorney

who likely spent hours counseling Cruz.

[Cryptoad]

3. His Parents should also be ,,,,

held accountable,,,,,,,,,,,

[LisaL]

4. He was adopted.

Both his adoptive parents are dead.

[Cryptoad]

8. Being a minor,,,,

somebody is resposible for his actions

[LisaL]

11. He is not a minor.

He was 19 at the time of the shootings. He wouldn't have been eligible for the death penalty if he wasn't an adult at the time.

[Cryptoad]

16. I think ,,,

sentence of Life Time Solitary confinement without any parole, would be a better punishment for his crimes than death, which is too quick and easy.

[obamanut2012]

6. He has no parents

[tenderfoot]

10. They may be referring to his guardians who gave him the guns he used

They're still alive.

[LisaL]

13. He purchased the guns legally.

He was also a legal adult at the time of the shooting, not a minor. As such he didn't need guardains.

[Devil Child]

12. Good, saves time. Now apply the death penalty as punishment for his terrorist act. N/T

[forgotmylogin]

18. I suspect that is the reason for the plea...

To take the death penalty off the table.

[Devil Child]

19. It is the defense's hope. Thankfully the prosecution wasn't foolish enough to agree to a deal

No deals for terrorists.

[LisaL]

24. There is no plea deal.

NT

[LisaL]

23. Death penalty is not off the table.

NT

[quaint]

14. A Parkland Father Speaks Out on the Mass Shooter's Guilty Plea

Fred Guttenberg shared a message and photo on Monday morning from the gravesite of his daughter Jaime, who was shot to death more than three years ago in the Parkland school massacre. “At cemetery with Jaime & reading reports to her of pending guilty plea in the murder trial,” he tweeted. “I want her to know. What I don’t want is to see the name or photo of her murderer.”

Guttenberg called for news media to avoid focussing heavily on the perpetrator and instead highlight the lives of Jaime and the 13 other high school students and three staff members who were fatally shot on February 14, 2018. He echoed a long-running message embraced by various mass-shooting survivors for much of the past decade, beginning with the “no notoriety” movement launched after the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in July 2012.

[link:https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/10/parkland-shooter-guilty-plea-jamie-guttenberg-survivors/|
Mother Jones]

[Alexander Of Assyria]

17. A thousand times yes. Mention of the mass murderers name can't be helped...

maybe once, in the last paragraph or sentence. Why the photographs of the devil?

The end mass murderers notoriety and publicity movement is the surviving parent wishes that the media constantly disrespects, among many others.

[Torchlight]

20. I'm glad jurisprudence has as a goal the distinction between vengeance and justice.

A very noble ideal to strive for, both the courts and the individual.

If it were up to me alone, his sentence would be both cruel and unusual, full of anger and full of emotion. So I'm really, really glad the courts navigate these decisions instead of people like me who would wind up causing more suffering than I would cure.

[sarisataka]

22. Very good self awareness

Welcome and Enjoy your time at DU

[marble falls]

25. Realizing myself in your shoes is what turned me against the death penalty. To many of us ...

... feel that way and it only goes to prove that there is no way to apply it appropriately, in proportion, or equally.