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

  1. #301
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    'Burn in hell': Heartbroken families confront Parkland school shooter with powerful words

    By Hannah Phillips
    Palm Beach Post

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Anguished families of the 17 people slain by Nikolas Cruz told the Parkland school shooter at his sentencing hearing Tuesday that he would "burn in hell."

    After a nearly three-month trial and more than four years after the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, jurors voted in October to spare Cruz's life. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will sentence him to life in prison this week.

    The jury's decision to decline the death penalty was met with dismay and disgust by the victims' family members after the verdict – and on Tuesday, the first day of the two-day hearing.

    David Robinovitz, grandfather of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, referred to Cruz only as "Parkland murderer" in court Tuesday. When the gunman dies, Robinovitz said, he hoped Cruz's ashes would be thrown into a landfill.

    "You know why?" he asked. "Because garbage to garbage."

    Cruz, 24, injured 17 others on Valentine's Day 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

    Though jurors found aggravating factors such as Cruz's cold and calculated behavior were enough to warrant a death penalty, at least one juror believed they were outweighed by mitigating circumstances – Cruz's troubled upbringing, age or mental illness struggles.

    Here's what the victims' family members said in court ahead of Cruz's sentencing:

    'Burn in Hell': Victims' loved ones speak to gunman directly


    Debra Hixon, the wife of the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon, addressed her husband's killer directly.

    "I wish nothing for you today," she said to Cruz, who was masked and unblinking. "After today, I don't care what happens to you."

    Cruz shot Hixon as he confronted him on the first floor of the freshman building, then circled back and shot him again once Hixon crawled into an alcove in the hallway for cover.

    People are born looking like their parents, and they die looking like their decisions, Hixon's sister, Natalie Hixon, told the gunman. Her brother died a hero, she said.

    Theresa Robinovitz, Alyssa Alhadeff's grandmother, said she has an idea for how the gunman might spend his life in prison: writing a book about how he and his defense counsel "beat the judicial system and got away with murder."

    How could the slaying of 17 people not warrant the death penalty? she asked.

    "I hope your ever-breathing moment here on Earth is miserable," she said. "Repent for your sins, Nikolas. And burn in hell."

    Teacher Stacey Lippel has a scar on her arm and the memory of the gunman aiming at her that day. She's a different person now, she said. Broken and altered, fearful, damaged, guilted, sad.

    "Not a day goes by that I don't think about that horrible day," she said.

    Lippel held her classroom door open and shepherded students inside while the gunman fired at them from the end of the hall. The judge thanked her before she stepped away from the podium.

    "You were a hero to those children that day," Scherer said.

    'I am broken': Parkland shooter's defense attorneys condemned in victim impact statements


    Prayers for torment and torture during the gunman's prison sentence were common among the families' statements. None said they could fathom three jurors' decision to spare his life.

    If the worst mass shooter to go to trial doesn't deserve execution, who does? asked Patricia Oliver, mother of Joaquin Oliver. Joaquin was among those who flooded out of their third-floor classrooms at the sound of the fire alarm only to meet Cruz at the end of the hall.

    Jurors showed more compassion to the gunman than he did her son, Joaquin's mother said. She was the first to address the gunman's team of public defenders, who she said exhibited "shameful, despicable behavior."

    Evil is in Cruz's system, Oliver said, so it's in theirs now, too. She's beyond feeling anger – all she has now is emptiness and grief, she said.

    "I am broken," Oliver repeated as she pointed to Cruz and each of his attorneys.

    Tom Hoyer, whose son Luke was shot to death in the first-floor hallway, fist-bumped Patricia as she returned to her seat in the courtroom gallery.

    Meghan Petty, whose 14-year-old sister, Alaina, was killed, said the gunman has gotten everything he wanted, while Alaina died afraid, hiding behind a desk on a dirty classroom floor.

    Cruz fired 139 rounds of ammunition, Petty said, in his rampage. That's 138 chances after his first bullet to stop, she said.

    Their deaths don't matter "because his life wasn't cupcakes, rainbows and sunshine," Petty said. He'll spend the rest of his life with a roof over his head, while Petty spends hers with Alaina's body beneath her feet, she said.

    Attorneys quarrel over statements critiquing Cruz's defense counsel


    Max Schachter, whose son Alex bled to death at his desk, said he's sickened by Cruz's defense team. Cruz hunted down children and staff, tortured them and "blew their heads apart like a water balloon," Schachter said.

    "That creature has no redeemable value," he said.

    His attitude toward the defense echoed that of family members who spoke before him. Once Schachter returned to his seat, Cruz's lead defense attorney, Melisa McNeill, objected to the sentiment.

    "I did my job, and every member of this team did their jobs," she told the judge. "We should not personally be attacked for that."

    McNeill asked Scherer to preclude the victims' families from threatening the defense team and their loved ones. Carolyn McCann, a prosecutor, rejected the request, calling the statements appropriate.

    "The victims have every right to express themselves," she said. "What the defense is doing is illegal, to try to curtail these victims' rights under the law, and it is unconscionable."

    The judge made note of McNeill's objection but did not ask upcoming speakers to amend their statements.

    Cruz was not expected to speak, his attorneys said.

    Contributing: Ashley R. Williams, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/01/parkland-high-school-shooting-family-statements-nikolas-cruz-sentencing/10658742002/
    "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. #302
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Darrell Brooks and the Cruz defense team should join forces and create their own law firm.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #303
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    Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole

    By Terry Spencer

    Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

    Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched intently as Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him to 17 life terms for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale and an additional 17 for the attempted murders of those he wounded.

    Scherer had no other choice; the jury in Cruz’s three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed.

    Cruz acknowledged under questioning by the judge before sentencing that he is on medication but could understand what was occurring.

    The sentencing came after two days' worth of parents, wives, siblings and others of slain victims and some of the surviving wounded walking to a lectern 20 feet to address him face to face.

    The judge commended the families and wounded who testified, calling them strong, graceful and patient.

    "I know you are going to be OK, because you have each other," Scherer said.

    The sentence came after more loved ones of the 17 people murdered got their chance after almost five years to verbally thrash Cruz face-to-face.

    Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of teacher Scott Beigel, spoke of vengeance when she got her turn to confront Cruz.

    "Real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your AR-15 and we got to pick straws, and each one of us got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you felt every bit of it, and your fear continued to mount until the last family member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed you," Beigel Schulman said. "That’s real justice for you."

    Beigel Schulman said she takes some comfort in knowing that Cruz is headed to a maximum-security prison where he will have to worry constantly about his safety for the rest of his life.

    "From what I hear, child killers are highly frowned upon and hated in prison," Beigel Schulman said to Cruz. "I welcome the day that I’m told that you’ve been tortured and taken out for your cold-blooded, premediated, calculated, heinous murders, because you deserve no less."

    https://www.fox29.com/news/parkland-...lity-of-parole

  4. #304
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Unfortunately for her, Cruz isn’t likely to be murdered in prison unless an inmate is hungry for notoriety
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  5. #305
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Related:

    Florida Supreme Court reprimands judge who oversaw Parkland school shooter’s death penalty trial

    The Florida Supreme Court on Monday publicly reprimanded the judge who oversaw the death penalty trial of the Parkland school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, after a Florida commission overseeing the conduct of the state’s judges recommended the formal reprimand in June.

    The Judicial Qualifications Commission had found Judge Elizabeth Scherer’s conduct at times made it appear she favored the prosecution, as CNN previously reported.

    The jury was tasked with deciding whether the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, should be sentenced to death for the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, in which 17 people were killed and 17 others injured.

    The jury declined to unanimously recommend the death penalty, resulting in a life sentence, angering many of the victims’ families.

    “Upon consideration of the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s Findings and Recommendation of Discipline and the parties’ Stipulation, the Court accepts the Stipulation and approves the proposed sanction. We therefore hold that respondent shall receive a public reprimand, which will be accomplished by publication of this order,” the Florida Supreme Court said.

    In May, Scherer resigned from her position as circuit judge for the 17th Judicial Circuit, effective June 30.

    CNN has reached out to an attorney for Scherer for comment.

    (source: CNN)
    "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

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