Multiple jurors voted against the death penalty in the sentencing trial of the Parkland shooter, according to jury foreman Benjamin Thomas.
Under Florida law, death penalty verdicts must be unanimous. If even one juror votes for life, the sentence will be life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On Thursday morning, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer announced the jury’s decision that the shooter should spend the rest of his life behind bars – and not be executed for the massacre he perpetrated at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Speaking to reporters after the decision was announced, Thomas said that one juror firmly objected to the death penalty.
“It really came down to a specific [juror], that he was mentally ill. And she didn’t believe – because he was mentally ill, he should get the death penalty,” Thomas said in an interview published by CBS Miami.
Defense attorneys argued that the shooter suffered brain damage and abuse as a child, saying that his mother drank and used drugs while she was pregnant with him – effects which they say led to lifelong developmental delays and mental health disorders.
Thomas appeared to confirm that three of the 12 jurors ultimately voted for life.
“There was one with a hard no, she couldn’t do it. And there was another two that ended up voting the same way,” he said.
Thomas said he himself sided with the death penalty and that the jury’s ultimate decision pained him. “It hurts,” he said. “There’s nothing we could do. That’s the way the law is. And that’s how we voted.”
