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After Nikolas Cruz was spared the death penalty, family members whose loved ones were violently taken from them at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School said the justice system had failed them. Local and state officials also expressed their disappointment.
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The 12-person jury at Broward County Courthouse has reached a verdict of life without the possibility of parole for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooter. The decision stunned and infuriated family members of the victims as they sat in the courtroom.
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Nikolas Cruz calmly told a psychologist he picked Valentine’s Day for his massacre to ruin the holiday for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students forever. Prosecutors concluded their rebuttal case Thursday after playing that video clip from jailhouse interviews.
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Nikolas Cruz told prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Charles Scott he began contemplating mass murder while in middle school, researching the killers behind earlier massacres at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University and elsewhere to shape his own plans.
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The defense in the Parkland sentencing trial abruptly decided to rest their case, surprising everyone, especially Judge Scherer. Miami-Dade County Public Schools denied students from attending the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Anna in the Tropics" by Nilo Cruz
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Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz's defense team are portraying him as the neurologically damaged victim of his mother’s heavy drinking. But a day after neurologist Paul Connor testified for the defense that he lacked the ability to quickly shift the focus of his attention and had trouble using his working memory, prosecutors got him to concede many of Cruz’s neurological test scores were in the normal range.
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The latest fallout from the grand jury report into the Broward school district that was commissioned after the Parkland shooting comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced four board members. Now Tim Hay, director of the Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools, has demanded the superintendent remove three longtime employees named in the grand jury report, saying they had “guided failed decisions on school safety."
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Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said Robert Mondragon had made numerous computer searches about old school shootings, which makes him fearful that Mondragon may have been planning one himself.
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Nikolas Cruz's attorneys argued Thursday that Nazi symbols he drew on class assignments should not be presented because they would unfairly anger the jury and there's no evidence he targeted any of his 17 victims because of their race or religion. Judge Elizabeth Scherer rejected the argument.
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“In telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life,” lead attorney Melisa McNeill said.
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Melisa McNeill, Cruz's lead public defender, is expected to give her opening statement Monday, having deferred its presentation from the start of the trial a month ago.
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Nikolas Cruz’s attorneys say fetal alcohol syndrome is one factor that led to the attack. The sides had been poised to argue about qEEG exams this week in advance of the defense beginning its case.