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Thread: Nikolas Jacob Cruz Sentenced to LWOP in 2018 FL Multiple Murders

  1. #211
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    Defense, prosecutors clash over graphic evidence during Parkland high school shooter trial

    By Daniell Scruggs and Taylor Lang
    WPBF News

    Wednesday, July 20

    5:34 p.m. Court ends for the day. It will resume Thursday morning.

    2:45 p.m. - The defense brought up the motion to stop playing surveillance footage as part of witness testimony again. The defense is concerned the continual playing of the footage will change the perception of Cruz.

    Judge Elizabeth A. Scherer reiterated that the video being shown is unedited evidence and will continue to be shown. The same argument was made Monday morning and the judge denied the motion.

    "You are making the entire argument over again each and every time," said Scherer.

    The state said there are several forms of evidence that will continue to be brought up as part of the trial.

    The defense said the "court is limiting us to access the record" and a meeting had been requested to discuss items like videos before the trial, but was denied, and items such as this are issues that could cause appeals.

    The judge disagreed.

    2 p.m. - Court resumes.

    12:30 p.m.
    - Court breaks for lunch.

    12 p.m. - Ivy Schamis, then a teacher at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was leading students through a discussion about the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany when star swimmer Nick Dworet correctly responded that Adolf Dassler founded the Adidas shoe company. He then added that Dassler’s brother founded the rival Puma brand.

    It was then that they heard the first gunshots in the hallway, and Cruz began firing his semi-automatic rifle through the glass on her classroom door.

    “It was really seconds later that the barrel of that AR—15 just ambushed our classroom,” Schamis testified, wiping her eyes with a tissue. “It came right through that glass panel and was just shooting everywhere. It was very loud. Very frightening. I kept thinking about these kids who should not be experiencing this at all.”

    She said the students scrambled to find safety behind furniture, but didn’t panic and acted with bravery and maturity as they waited to be rescued. Three students were wounded in her class and two were killed: Dworet and Helena Ramsay, both 17.

    When shown their portraits, she began to weep.

    “That’s my girl, Helena Ramsay,” she said. “Nicholas Dworet, handsome boy.”

    Dworet’s brother Alexander was grazed by a bullet in a classroom across the hall, where three students were killed and several more wounded.

    11 a.m.
    - Court resumes.

    10:30 a.m.
    - After hearing student and teacher accounts of the day, the court took began its morning break.

    9:30 a.m. - Court begins with the first witnesses.

    Before court - Court is expected to begin at 9 a.m. with more witnesses taking the stand and evidence shown to the jurors.

    https://www.wpbf.com/article/florida...trial/40627591
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #212
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    Parkland shooter trial: Jurors see Nikolas Cruz’s violent internet posts

    By Terry Spencer
    Fox 35 News

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz saw evidence Wednesday of his growing obsession to commit a massacre, seeing internet posts and searches about mass killings in the months before he murdered 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

    In an emotionless monotone, Broward County sheriff’s Detective Nick Masters read hundreds of searches and comments Cruz made starting seven months before the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre as prosecutors try to prove he planned it.

    They included searches about the mass shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in the Denver suburbs in 2012, Virginia Tech University in 2007, a South Carolina Black church in 2015 and a Las Vegas country music concert in 2017.

    In comments, Cruz praised Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in 2014 before taking his own life and has become a touchstone among disturbed young men who identify as "involuntary celibates" or "incels" because women won’t date them.

    In posts on YouTube, Cruz wrote "I wanna kill people," "I’m going to be a professional school shooter," "I have no problem shooting a girl in the chest" and "No mercy." He wrote "It makes me happy to see people die" followed by a smiley face emoji and "I love to see the familys suffer."

    About two months before his attack, Cruz turned his focus toward Stoneman Douglas, the school he periodically attended before he was expelled in early 2017. He researched the school’s operating hours and pulled up a campus map.

    Finally, less than 24 hours before the massacre, he searched for, "How long does it take a cop to show up at a school shooting?" He fled the school after seven minutes.

    Some of the seven men and five women on the jury and their 10 alternates scribbled madly as Cruz’s words were posted on video screens in front of them. Victims’ parents and family members in the gallery audibly gasped as they saw the posts, with some shaking their heads.

    Under questioning by Cruz’s attorney, Masters said all the posts were in public forums and many under his own name. He said that, to his knowledge, Google and YouTube had no method for locating and reporting such posts and searches.

    Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder in October, meaning the jury will decide only whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole. The shooting left 14 students, a teacher, the athletic director and an assistant football coach dead.

    Earlier Wednesday, a jail guard testified that Cruz attacked him with little warning nine months after the massacre and tried to wrest away his electric stun gun.

    Jurors saw a surveillance video of the Nov. 13, 2018, brawl with Broward County sheriff’s Sgt. Raymond Beltran, who was supervising Cruz’s recreation period in the isolated area where he is kept.

    The guard testified that after he told Cruz to walk properly on his slippers, Cruz flashed both middle fingers and then charged him, flipping the guard onto the ground. Beltran was able to flip Cruz over and they wrestled over Beltran’s Taser, which Cruz was able to pull from its holster.

    He said he feared Cruz would use it against him and then "he could do whatever he wants to me."

    The Taser discharged, but the probes missed both of them. Beltran regained control of the Taser and used it to punch Cruz, staggering him. Cruz then got on the ground, was handcuffed and put back into his cell. Beltran suffered no serious injuries.

    With the trial now in its second week, the jury has seen terrifying video of the attack, and heard from traumatized survivors and police officers who rushed into the nightmarish scene inside a three-story classroom building. They have examined gruesome autopsy and crime scene photos.

    They also saw video depicting Cruz’s nonchalance as he walked to a sandwich shop to buy a drink and then visited a McDonald’s just minutes after he fled the school. On Monday, they saw the AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle Cruz fired more than 150 times.

    This is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history to reach trial. Nine U.S. gunmen besides Cruz who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately after their shootings, either by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in a 10th, the 2019 slaying of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.

    Prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to end their case next week after the jury visits the building where the massacre occurred. It has been sealed off since shortly after the shooting and its walls and floors remain blood-stained and bullet-pocked, with rotted Valentine’s Day flowers and deflated balloons strewn about.

    After a one-week break, the trial will resume with a defense case that will focus on Cruz’s life, including his birth mother’s drinking during pregnancy, his long history of emotional and mental problems, his alleged sexual abuse and the deaths of his adopted parents. The prosecution will then present a rebuttal case.

    When jurors get the case, probably in October or November, they will vote 17 times, once for each of the victims, on whether to recommend capital punishment.

    For each death sentence, the jury must be unanimous or the sentence for that victim is life. The jurors are told that to vote for death, the prosecution’s aggravating circumstances for that victim must, in their judgment, "outweigh" the defense’s mitigators. A juror can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence.

    Associated Press reporter Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.

    https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/pa...internet-posts
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #213
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    ‘Heartbroken’: Parkland school shooting victims’ loved ones testify during penalty phase

    Jurors learn more ghastly details about victims’ cause of death, Nikolas Cruz’s messages, searches

    By Christiana Vasquez, Andrea Torres and Amanda Batchelor
    Local 11 News

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The heartbreak of the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was still felt in Broward County court on Monday in Fort Lauderdale.

    A few hours before Nikolas Cruz fired his AR-15, he professed his love to a girl named Angie, according to text messages that Broward Sheriff’s Office Detective Ronald Faircloth read in court on Monday.

    “You are scaring me and I want you to leave me alone,” Angie wrote, according to Faircloth’s record.

    The jury not only learned about Angie’s rejection. They faced more ghastly details about the gunshot wounds three victims suffered and listened to the victim statements of a group of grieving mothers, siblings, a stepfather, and a girlfriend.

    After forensic pathologist Dr. Terrill Tops said Joaquin Oliver died of a gunshot to the head — that “caused the skull to explode and the brain with it” — his mother and sister read their victim statements in court.

    “Our lives have been shattered and changed forever,” Patricia Oliver said through tears.

    A stoic Andrea Ghersi, Joaquin’s older sister, said that even though her brother Joaquin was 6-foot, 1-inches tall, he was still her baby brother.

    “It hurts a lot, not just today but every single day,” Ghersi said.

    Joaquin’s girlfriend Victoria Gonzalez said they referred to each other as soulmates. She also read a statement saying he loved to make people smile.

    “Joaquin was magic personified, love personified,” Gonzalez said adding, “He was simply just happy to be human.”

    JROTC Classmate

    Assistant State Attorney Michael J. Satz also called John V. Navarra, a retired MSD teacher to the stand. He had taught Cruz how to shoot an air rifle during the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps class.

    Navarra said Cruz earned the sharpshooter badge during an air rifle marksmanship extracurricular activity with JROTC.

    “He was quiet and well behaved,” Navarra said.

    Fourteen-year-old Alaina Petty died in her JROTC uniform after Cruz shot her. here mother, Kelly Petty, said Alaina joined JROTC in following with her older brother’s footsteps.

    “I am heartbroken that I will not be able to watch her become the amazing young woman that she was turning into,” Kelly Petty said while reading her victim statement.

    Alaina's older sister, Meghan Petty, said she feels confused and angry about her sister’s murder every day. In her victim’s statement, she said it upset her that her sister didn’t get to experience romantic love.

    “I would have loved to see her grow up because I know she would have been a blessing to the world,” Meghan Petty said.

    Linda Beigel told the jury about her slain son Scott Beigel, a geography teacher and cross-country coach. Cruz fatally shot him on the 1200 building’s third floor, in front of his classroom.

    Michael Schullman, his stepfather, also read a statement. He said that after he married Linda Beigel he decided to adopt Scott Biegel when he was in his 20s.

    “I miss my son today. I will miss my son tomorrow. I will miss my son for the rest of my life,” Linda Beigel said.

    Autopsies and Digital Evidence

    Tops, of the Palm Beach Medical Examiner's Office, also said 15-year-old Luke Hoyer was shot in the neck and 37-year-old Aaron Feis was shot in the torso twice.

    The seven men and five women on the jury and the 10 alternate jurors viewed the ghastly images of their lifeless bodies on small screens in front of them.

    Faircloth listed some of the data extracted from Cruz’s phone, which included morbid searches for “school shooters,” “AR-15″ and “Good songs to play while killing people.”

    The patterns also showed Cruz’s obsession with Foster the People’s "Pumped Up Kicks," a song about a fictional troubled teenager who is plotting revenge.

    Faircloth also described videos that he said Cruz recorded with his cell phone.

    “People will die,” Cruz warned in a Feb. 8, 2018 video.

    There was another warning in a Feb. 11, 2018 video.

    “From the wrath of my power, they will know who I am ... With the power of my AR you will all know who I am ... My love for you Angie will never go away.”

    Since the penalty phase began on July 18, the prosecution team has called 63 witnesses to the stand — including the 17 who survived their injuries.

    Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said the court was in recess until 10:15 a.m., on Tuesday.

    The Defense

    The defense filed a motion on Wednesday morning asking the court to preclude the use of Cruz’s conviction of battery on a law enforcement officer as an aggravating factor in this case.

    Cruz pleaded guilty in that case involving BSO Sgt. Raymond "Ray" Beltran, who was attacked by Cruz inside the Broward County Main Jail.

    The defense team stated in their motion that “the trial court must determine whether the facts and circumstances of a prior conviction meet the required threshold for whether an act is a life-threatening crime,” and stated that Beltran’s injuries were not life-threatening.

    “He basically stopped talking, he flipped me off twice, and starts attacking,” Beltran said last week, adding Cruz got a hold of his Taser gun with his right hand.

    The state is seeking the death penalty. The defense is hoping Cruz’s life will be spared and he will be sentenced to life in prison.

    https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...chool-shooter/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #214
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    State rests case in Parkland school shooter’s death penalty trial

    Tears flow in court after jurors visit blood-spattered MSD classrooms

    By Christiana Vasquez and Andrea Torres

    Local 11 News

    PARKLAND, Fla. – Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said the prosecution rested their case in the Parkland school shooter’s death penalty trial on Thursday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale.

    Scherer told the jurors won’t have to be back in the courtroom until Aug. 22. The defense team has yet to present an opening statement and a list of witnesses.

    After the prosecution and the defense present their closing statements, the jury will have to determine the fate of Nikolas Cruz. A unanimous vote for every victim will result in a death sentence. Otherwise, Scherer will sentence Cruz to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    TEARS IN THE COURTROOM

    Victim impact statements ended with many in the courtroom in tears.

    The first witness was Anne Ramsay, the mother of Helena Ramsey, one of the 17 victims Nikolas Cruz killed at the 1200 building. She said her “brave, beautiful and one of a kind” 17-year-old daughter died on her father’s birthday.

    The afternoon’s second witness was 15-year-old Peter Wang’s mother, Hui Zhang, who had her niece read her statement. The third witness was his cousin Aaron Chang who said he was in denial when Peter was killed and he still remembers his parents’ cries.

    Debbie Hixon, the widow of Christopher Hixon, 49, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He was a trained military police officer. The school’s athletic director and security monitor died after rushing into the 1200 building.

    “He was an extraordinary man living an ordinary life,” the grieving widow said.

    The Hixon’s 26-year-old son Corey Hixon walked up to the stand wearing a burgundy bow tie. He lives with Kabuki Syndrome, a developmental disability, and with his mother’s help, he kept it simple.

    “I miss him,” he told the jury before hugging his mother and adding that he used to walk with his father to get donuts on Saturdays.

    Thomas Hixon, the son of Christopher Hixon, also read his victim impact statement. He said his children will have to grow up without ever meeting their grandfather. He said his father was his first salute when he became an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps in 2014.

    “Military service was a bond as father and son and I was a better Marine and leader because of what he taught me,” he said adding, “He will always be remembered for his courage, his leadership, and his humor.”

    Thomas Hixon said he took care of his father’s uniform before the funeral.

    PRESERVED CRIME SCENE VISIT

    Jurors in the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz toured the still blood-spattered rooms of a three-story building at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday, an extremely rare visit to an intact crime scene sealed off since he murdered 14 students and three staff members four years ago.

    The seven-man, five-woman jury and 10 alternates were bused under heavy security 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale to the suburban school, where classes don’t resume until later this month. Law enforcement sealed off the area to prevent protesters from interrupting or endangering the jurors’ safety.

    The panelists and their law enforcement escorts were accompanied into the building by Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, prosecutors and Cruz’s attorneys, and walked through the site for about an hour and a half. Cruz waived his right to go with them. Journalists were being escorted into the site after the jury left, for the first public look. They were allowed to carry paper and pen but no cameras.

    Prosecutors, who are winding up their case, hope the visit will help prove that the former Stoneman Douglas student’s actions were cold, calculated, heinous and cruel; created a great risk of death to many people and “interfered with a government function” — all aggravating factors under Florida’s capital punishment law.

    Under Florida court rules, neither the judge nor the attorneys were allowed to speak to the jurors — and the jurors weren’t allowed to converse with each other — when they retraced the path Cruz followed on Feb. 14, 2018, as he methodically moved from floor to floor, firing down hallways and into classrooms as he went. Prior to the tour, the jurors had already seen surveillance video of the shooting and photographs of its aftermath.

    The building has been sealed and surrounded by a chain-link fence since shortly after the massacre. Known both as the freshman and 1200 building, it looms ominously over the school and its teachers, staff and 3,300 students, and can be seen easily by anyone nearby. The Broward County school district plans to demolish it whenever the prosecutors approve. For now, it is a court exhibit.

    “When you are driving past, it’s there. When you are going to class, it’s there. It is just a colossal structure that you can’t miss,” said Kai Koerber, who was a Stoneman Douglas junior at the time of the shooting. He is now at the University of California, Berkeley, and the developer of a mental health phone app. “It is just a constant reminder ... that is tremendously trying and horrible.”

    Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder; the trial is only to determine if he is sentenced to death or life without parole.

    The building’s interior has been left nearly intact since the shooting: Bloodstains still smear the floor, and doors and walls are riddled with bullet holes. Windows in classroom doors are shot out. Rotted Valentine’s Day flowers, deflated balloons and other gifts are strewn about. Only the bodies and personal belongings such as backpacks have been removed.

    Miami defense attorney David S. Weinstein said prosecutors hope the visit will be “the final piece in erasing any doubt that any juror might have had that the death penalty is the only recommendation that can be made.”

    Such site visits are rare. Weinstein, a former prosecutor, said in more than 150 jury trials dating back to the late 1980s, he has only had one.

    One reason for their rarity is that they are a logistical nightmare for the judge, who needs to get the jury to the location and back to the courthouse without incident or risk a mistrial. And in a typical case, a visit wouldn’t even present truthful evidence: After law enforcement leaves, the building or public space returns to its normal use. The scene gets cleaned up, objects get moved and repairs are made. It’s why judges order jurors in many trials not to visit the scene on their own.

    Craig Trocino, a University of Miami law professor who has represented defendants appealing their death sentences, said the visit — combined with the myriad graphic videos and photos jurors have already seen — could open an avenue for Cruz’s attorneys if they find themselves in the same situation.

    “At some point evidence becomes inflammatory and prejudicial,” he said. “The site visit may be a cumulative capstone.”

    Cruz’s attorneys have argued that prosecutors have used evidence not just to prove their case, but to inflame the jurors’ passions.

    Prosecutors are expected to rest their case shortly after the visit.

    https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...s-crime-scene/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #215
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    School shooter’s brain exams to be subject of court hearing

    BY TERRY SPENCER
    THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A defense mental health expert in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz can pinpoint when he realized the 23-year-old mass murderer still has “irrational thoughts” — the two were making small talk when Cruz began describing plans for an eventual life outside prison.

    Wesley Center, a Texas counselor, said that happened last year at the Broward County jail as he fitted Cruz’s scalp with probes for a scan to map his brain. The defense at hearings this week will try to convince Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that Center and other experts should be allowed to testify at Cruz’s ongoing trial about what their tests showed, something the prosecution wants barred.

    “He had some sort of epiphany while he was in (jail) that would focus his thoughts on being able to help people,” transcripts show Center told prosecutors during a pretrial interview this year. “His life’s purpose was to be helping others.”

    Cruz, of course, will never be free. Since his arrest about an hour after he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, there has never been any doubt his remaining years would be behind bars, sentenced to death or life without parole. Surveillance video shows him mowing down his victims with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and he confessed, eventually pleading guilty in October.

    Prosecutors made their argument for death to the seven-man, five-woman jury and 10 alternates over three weeks, resting their case Aug. 4 after the panel toured the still-bloodstained, bullet-pocked classroom building where the massacre happened.

    The jurors also watched graphic surveillance videos; saw gruesome crime scene and autopsy photos; received emotional testimony from teachers and students who witnessed others die; and heard from tearful and angry parents, spouses and other family members about the victims and how their loved one’s death impacted their lives. They watched video of the former Stoneman Douglas student calmly ordering an Icee minutes after the shooting and, nine months later, attacking a jail guard.

    Soon, it will be Cruz’s attorneys arguing why he should be spared, hoping to convince at least one juror their mitigating factors outweigh the prosecution’s aggravating circumstances — a death sentence must be unanimous.

    But first, the trial took last week off to accommodate some jurors’ requests to deal with personal matters. The jury will also be absent this week as the sides argue before Scherer, who will decide whether brain scans, tests and other evidence the defense wants to present starting Aug. 22 is scientifically valid or junk, as the prosecution contends.

    Center’s test and its findings will be subject to contentious debate. Called a “quantitative electroencephalogram” or “qEEG,” its backers say it provides useful support to such diagnoses as fetal alcohol syndrome, which Cruz’s attorneys contend created his lifelong mental and emotional problems.

    EEGs have been common in medicine for a century, measuring brainwaves to help doctors diagnose epilepsy and other brain ailments. But the qEEG analysis, which has been around since the 1970s, goes a step farther — a patient’s EEG results are compared to a database of brainwaves taken from normal or “neurotypical” people. While qEEG findings cannot be used to make a diagnosis, they can support findings based on the patient’s history, examination, behavior and other tests, supporters contend.

    A “qEEG can confirm what you already know, but you can’t create new knowledge,” Center told prosecutors in his interview.

    Dr. Charles Epstein, an Emory University neurology professor, reviewed Center’s findings for the prosecution. In a written statement to Scherer, he said EEGs using only external scalp probes like the one given Cruz are imprecise, making Center’s qEEG results worthless.

    “Garbage in, garbage out,” he wrote.

    Florida judges have given mixed rulings about allowing qEEGs since 2010, when the test helped a Miami-area man escape a death sentence for fatally stabbing his wife and severely wounding her mentally disabled 11-year-old daughter. Some judges have since allowed their admission, while others barred them. Scherer, who is overseeing her first death penalty trial, has never had a case where the defense tried to present a qEEG report.

    Even if Scherer bars the test, lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill and her team still have evidence that Cruz’s brain likely suffered damage in the womb, including statements by his late birth mother that she abused alcohol and cocaine during pregnancy.

    They also have reports giving circumstantial evidence of his mental illness. Cruz got kicked out of preschool for hurting other children. During his years in public school, he spent significant time at a center for students with emotional issues. He also received years of mental health treatment.

    Then there are his life circumstances. Cruz’s adoptive father died in front of him when he was 5; he was bullied by his younger brother and his brother’s friends; he was allegedly abused sexually by a “trusted peer;” he cut himself and abused animals; and his adoptive mother died less than four months before the shooting.

    His youth will also be an issue — he was 19 when the shooting happened.

    Attorneys not involved in the case say if Scherer wants to avoid having a possible death sentence overturned on appeal, she should give the defense wide latitude on what it presents so jurors can fully assess his life and mental health.

    “If it’s a close call, I think she is going to bend to the defense — and the prosecution is not going to be happy,” said David S. Weinstein, a Miami criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor.

    https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-u...court-hearing/
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  6. #216
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    Parkland school shooter’s brain scan will not be shown to jurors during death penalty trial

    By Christina Vazquez, Janine Stanwood and Andrea Torres
    Local 10 News

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Defense attorneys will not be showing jurors images of the Parkland school shooter’s brain scan done at the Broward County main jail, attorneys in Broward County court said on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale.

    Nikolas Cruz’s defense team initially wanted to introduce it as evidence but backed out after the prosecutors’ Emory University expert, Dr. Charles Epstein, questioned the reliability of the analysis of the brain scan referring to it as “garbage.”

    “We are not relying on those types of scans or comparisons,” said Casey Secor, a capital defense attorney, as he stood next to Cruz.

    The jurors, who will have to decide if Cruz deserves the death penalty for his crimes during the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, were not in the courtroom during the hearing.

    Prosecutors rested their case on Aug. 4 after the seven men and five women on the jury toured the preserved crime scene, watched surveillance videos, viewed photographs of the victims’ bodies, and listened to the statements of the 17 victims’ grief-stricken loved ones. Some of the testimony had Cruz’s defense attorneys dabbing their eyes.

    The defense is preparing to present the case on Aug. 22 to persuade the jurors that Cruz’s life should be spared and that spending the rest of his life in prison should be enough punishment.

    Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer had yet to sign an order about the admissibility of expert witness testimony after the prosecution and the defense came to an agreement, so the details had yet to become public on Wednesday afternoon.

    https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...to-start-soon/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #217
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    Parkland shooter trial: Judge rules 2 high profile defense witnesses must answer prosecutors’ questions

    By Christina Vazquez, Michelle Solomon and Amanda Batchelor
    Local 10 News

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Two high-profile defense witnesses had told the court that they didn’t believe some of the questions asked to them by prosecutors were appropriate. But the judge overseeing the Parkland shooter’s trial disagreed.

    On Thursday, the state and defense debated over whether the shooter’s brother, Zachary Cruz, and the brother’s roommate, Richard Moore, should be forced to answer certain questions asked by the state in a deposition.

    In Zachary Cruz and Moore's motion,“the majority of the information the State seeks, touches intimately on the home, marital, and family life of the Deponents. The information further is tied to perceived political activities, political views, and membership or participation in certain protest movements and activist groups.”

    Attorney Amina Matheny-Willard spoke on their behalf and brought up Zachary Cruz’s 2018 arrest for trespassing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas a month after the shooting before telling Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer: “We feel like this is continued harassment by Broward County and we feel like it is tantamount to witness tampering.”

    Scherer: “You are saying that there is continued harassment that would warrant the Florida Department of Law Enforcement getting involved?

    Matheny-Willard: “Absolutely”

    Scherer: “That is a big accusation, which if you feel that is the case then you, ma’am, by all means, should be contacting the police yourself.”

    Scherer ruled that Zachary Cruz and Moore will answer all questions in the deposition despite Matheny-Willard’s argument against some of the queries.

    In regards to Zachary Cruz, Matheny-Williard said that the state already knows what her client’s testimony will contain.

    “. . . that Broward County ignored all of the signs up to the shooting with regard to Nikolas Cruz,” Matheny-Willard said.

    “Well, that is interesting because I have already ruled that it is not admissible,” Scherer countered.

    After a morning of back and forth exchanges, Scherer said she had reviewed all of the questions asked by the state in the depositions and made her ruling.

    “They were all relevant, appropriate and under Florida law, both of the deponents are required to answer.” She warned Matheny-Willard that “instructing a deponent not to answer a question is inappropriate and it is not legal under the Florida rules of procedure unless there is a privilege and there was no privilege that was claimed. That is my ruling.”

    Matheny-Willard said that “they will comply.”

    They are both scheduled to answer prosecutors’ remaining depositions on Sept. 6.

    Questions Over Family Friend Deposition

    Also on Thursday, all parties combed through a deposition from Finai Browd, a person whom capital defense attorney Casey Secor had a psychologist interview telling the court in a pre-trial hearing in July: “Because Nick’s parents are deceased, one of the people that this psychologist talked to was a family friend (Browd) who’s known Nick since he was very little.” Secor also explained in that July hearing that the defense had the interviiew conducted in an attempt to find out what Cruz was like at different points of his life.

    As the court and the attorneys litigated as to which portion of Browd’s deposition should or should not be redacted, a window into the defense’s upcoming case presentation and how the state may be planning to refute it during rebuttal, Secor said, “It is not our position that Nikolas has autism spectrum disorder, there is, however, a great deal of overall between autism spectrum disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, they’re both neurodevelopment disorders,” he said.

    To which Jeff Marcus, the assistant state attorney said, “Ms. Browd is portrayed by the defense in direct examination as an expert on Nikolas Cruz at ages up to approximately 12 years of age. She testifies that Lynda Cruz (Nikolas Cruz’s adoptive mother) never went the extra mile to take him to therapy or, you know, get a diagnosis. We are able to rebut that defense with his antisocial behaviors which includes all the awful things that he did including the swastikas, on the writings he did with swastikas, the gun, this is part of his antisocial personality.”

    Marcus also said that “the point of Ms. Browd’s testimony and the state’s cross-examination is that this rebuts her testimony that Lynda Cruz was responsible. The person who is responsible is the person who has an antisocial personality, has a borderline personality, and that is the defendant himself. Everything the mother, Mrs. Cruz, tried to do for him was ineffective because of his personality disorder, not this neurodevelopment disorder that the defense contends.”

    The judge deferred her ruling on some sections but chose to rule from the bench on the Browd deposition.

    “The fact that the witness has perceived her own child exhibiting certain behaviors and because of those perceptions and her ability to observe or own child and then recognize similar behavior in another child I think that that is relevant and admissible. However, her statements about the autism spectrum and learning disabilities, I think that those are improper opinions of a lay witness. I also think that that is not relevant,” Scherer said.

    Cruz’s defense team initially wanted to introduce it as evidence but backed out after the prosecutors’ Emory University expert, Dr. Charles Epstein, questioned the reliability of the analysis of the brain scan referring to it as “garbage.”

    Court will reconvene on Monday, Aug. 22.

    https://www.local10.com/news/local/2...y-phase-trial/
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  8. #218
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    Nikolas Cruz's defense says his brain was 'poisoned' by birth mother's addictions in death penalty trial

    By Eric Levenson, Denise Royal and Sara Weisfeldt
    CNN

    An attorney for Nikolas Cruz asked jurors Monday to consider the Parkland school shooter's dysfunctional family life and his serious mental health issues when they decide whether or not to sentence him to death

    "In telling you Nik's story, in telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life," public defender Melisa McNeill said Monday in a Florida courtroom. "That is called mitigation. Mitigation is any reason that you believe that the death penalty is not an appropriate penalty in this case."

    In particular, McNeill highlighted his birth mother's abuse of drugs and alcohol during his pregnancy, saying Cruz showed signs from a young age of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and antisocial personality disorder.

    "Because Nikolas was bombarded by all of those things, he was poisoned in the womb. Because of that, his brain was irretrievably broken, through no fault of his own," McNeill said.

    The comments were part of the defense's opening statements in Cruz's death penalty trial for the killing of 17 people and wounding of 17 more at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018. It was the first time jurors have heard from Cruz's defense. His attorneys deferred their initial opening statements, did not cross-examine any students or teachers who survived the shooting and asked only basic questions of other witnesses.

    Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, and the ongoing phase of his criminal trial is to determine his sentence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, while Cruz's defense attorneys are asking the jury for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Over three weeks in July and August, prosecutors argued Cruz was "cold, calculative, manipulative and deadly" in carrying out his attack and called to the stand a series of students, teachers, police officers and victims' family members to bear witness to the horrific details of that day. Prosecutors also led jurors on a trip to the untouched scene of the February 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

    If jurors recommend Cruz be sentenced to death, they must be unanimous.

    In opening statements Monday, McNeill laid out Cruz's difficult family life, including his mother's history of addiction and the death of his adopted parents.

    She called Cruz a "damaged and wounded" person and said attorneys plan to show the court disturbing things he said and wrote, his obsessions with guns and devils and even his school shooting "manifesto."

    "His brain is broken," she said. "He's a damaged human being. And that's why these things happen."

    Cruz had developmental delays early in his childhood, including his difficulty communicating with others. He would bite others, lash out emotionally and was impaired intellectually, McNeill said.

    The defense case may include testimony from Cruz's siblings. Last week, Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted the state's motion to compel depositions for Zachary Cruz, the gunman's brother, and Richard Moore, who Zachary currently lives with in Virginia. Zachary Cruz and Richard Moore were ordered by the court to appear September 6 for deposition to "answer each and every question that are posed by the state."

    The defense has said it will not attempt to blame the crime on any third party or anyone except Cruz.

    Fourteen of those killed were students: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 14.

    Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35; wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49; and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 37, also were killed, each while running toward danger or trying to help students to safety.

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/us/ni...edium=news_tab
    Last edited by Bobsicles; 08-22-2022 at 11:48 AM.
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  9. #219
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is escorted into the courtroom on 30 August (Photo: AP)


    Nikolas Cruz asked if people ‘ate’ corpses and what Lincoln killing ‘sounded like’ in school Civil War lesson

    By Rachel Sharp
    The Independent

    Nikolas Cruz asked if people “ate” the bodies of dead people and wanted to know what it “sounded like” when Abraham Lincoln was shot dead during a middle school lesson on the US Civil War, according to disturbing evidence shown in court.

    Jurors at the 23-year-old’s sentencing trial were shown a functional behavioural assessment on Tuesday carried out by school staff when Cruz was in eighth grade at West Glades Middle School in Parkland, Florida.

    In it, the staff member detailed one incident from 11 September 2013 where Cruz “became fixated on death and assassination of Abraham Lincoln” and asked a lot of questions about the shooting and what happened to the corpses of people killed in the Civil War.

    “Nikolas returned from being out of Internal Suspension. After discussing and lecturing about the Civil War in America, Nikolas became fixated on death and assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” it reads.

    “Some questions he asked were “What did it sound like when Lincoln was shot? Did it go pop, pop, pop really fast? Was there blood everywhere? After the war, what did they do with all of the bodies? Did people eat them?”

    The account was one of a trove of reported incidents of aggression, disruptive behaviour and a fascination with firearms documented in the behavioural assessment.

    Cruz was a student at the school – a general education school – from 2011 to 2013.

    In another incident, dated 4 September 2013, Cruz was found to have drawn pictures of shooting victims and nude images of people.

    “Nikolas drew questionable depiction on his vocabulary worksheet. Nick was asked to erase them and fix his work,” the note reads.

    “Nick drew naked stick figures (showing body parts) and drew pictures of people shooting each other with guns.”

    Other incidents also showed Cruz often spoke about guns.

    On 17 October 2013, Cruz’s class was discussing a book and Cruz deliberately read aloud the last couple of pages to ruin the ending, according to the notes.

    When told to stop he told the school staff member that he disliked the book but announced that he liked guns.

    “He stated, ‘I like guns’ can we talk about that,” the note read.

    On another day, the notes from staff members state that “Nikolas will find any excuse to bring up guns”.

    Multiple occasions also detail that Cruz often used obscenities and destroyed things.

    The documents were presented by the prosecution during the cross-examination of Jessica Clark Flournoy, who was Cruz’s counsellor at West Glade Middle School.

    She did not author the notes and testified that Cruz behaved in her counselling sessions and never spoke of his fascination with guns to her.

    Ms Flournoy was shown notes from one session on 20th March 2013 which said that Cruz stopped checking his grades because “he felt that if his ship is going to sink, he rather go down with the ship being known for something (i.e. doing something to be remembered by)”.

    The prosecutor compared those comments to a video Cruz made just three days before the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

    In the video, Cruz spoke of his notoriety over the crime.

    “It’s going to be a big event and when you see me on the news you will all know who I am. You’re all going to die. I can’t wait,” he said.

    The prosecutor questioned Ms Flournoy whether it showed Cruz “wanted to be known for something even back in 2013”.

    The judge sustained an objection from the defence but did not strike it from the record.

    Prosecutors also sought to argue that Cruz was able to control his behaviour and acted out “intentionally” so that he would be moved to another school.

    According to another student, Cruz asked them one time after acting out: “How am I still at the school?”

    Jurors were also shown some notes showing that Cruz behaved in front of a male assistant principal and then acted out when he left the room.

    Ms Flournoy confirmed that Cruz behaved in her counselling sessions.

    When asked whether his differences in actions indicated he was able to control his behaviour, she agreed, saying “he had the ability to make choices”.

    In February 2014, Cruz was moved from West Glades to Cross Creek – a school that focuses on student’s special education needs. In early 2016, he transferred again – this time to Marjory Stoneman Douglas where he stayed until February 2017, when he was sent to an adult learning centre.

    One year later, on 14 February 2018, Cruz travelled to Marjory Stoneman armed with an AR-15.

    The then-19-year-old stalked the corridors of the freshman building, murdering 17 students and staff members.

    Last October, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder over the Valentine’s Day killings.

    Jurors will now decide whether to sentence him to life in prison without parole or to death.

    Prosecutors spent three weeks detailing how Cruz murdered 17 students and staff members and wounded 17 more, with jurors hearing from grieving family members and touring the school site.

    Now, Cruz’s defence is presenting its case, seeking to show that Cruz’s actions that day were the culmination of his life up to that point – from him being exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb through his birth mother, to behavioural and psychological issues from an early age, and the deaths of both of his adopted parents.

    https://news.yahoo.com/nikolas-cruz-...204220121.html
    https://archive.ph/hxjbU

  10. #220
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
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    Parkland shooting trial: Jurors see swastikas Nikolas Cruz scrawled in class

    By Rebecca Rosenberg
    Fox News

    A Florida judge ruled Thursday that jurors could see the swastikas Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz drew on assignments in class rejecting the defense's argument that the symbol is too prejudicial and inflammatory.

    The attorneys told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that Cruz, 23, shot his victims without regard to race or religion, and there is no evidence that bigotry drove the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Feb. 14, 2018.

    The 17 people killed and the 17 who were injured included Whites, Blacks Hispanics, Asians, Christians and Jews, the lawyers noted.

    The arguments were made outside the earshot of jurors, who were later shown the schoolwork that featured the offensive doodles.

    Cruz pleaded guilty in October. The penalty trial in Broward County Circuit Court, in Fort Lauderdale, will determine whether Cruz is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

    The swastikas were drawn on English assignments at Westglades Middles School when Cruz was in eighth grade.

    His teacher, Carrie Yon, testified via Zoom that she had kept the assignments to document Cruz's disturbed behavior.

    On the papers shown in court Thursday, Cruz wrote gay slurs and drew photos of stick figures shooting each other and having sex. He once wrote Yon, "I hate you. I hate America."

    On another occasion, she tried to encourage him, telling him she knew he could be a good student. He replied, "I'm a bad kid. I want to kill."

    Yon wrote in an assessment that Cruz "does not understand the difference between his violent feelings and reality" and is a danger to other students and teachers.

    It is the second week of the defense case in Cruz's penalty trial. His lawyers have argued that he was born damaged.

    His biological mother was a sex worker who abused crack and alcohol when she was pregnant with him.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pa...ss/ar-AA11mYSJ
    https://archive.ph/q3K9C

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