FL - 17 killed in Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Parkland, 14 Feb 2018 *Guilty* #5

[BetteDavisEyes]

*BREAKING*

Shooter reported, people reported shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland

Police agencies are going to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland after reports of a gunman near campus.

The school is at 5901 Northwest Pine Island Rd. in Parkland.

Coral Springs police are advising on Twitter that people should avoid the neighborhood.

The agency also advised students and teachers in the locked down school to remain barricaded inside until officers reach them.

There are reports of shooting victims, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/b...ter-marjory-stoneman-high-20180214-story.html

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[Gardenista]

Parkland school shooter to plead guilty to 17 counts of murder: reports

 

[SeesSeas]

https://twitter.com/cathyrusson/status/1450504923297107970
Cathy Russon
#NikolasCruz - Cruz will be back in court tomorrow at 9:30 ET. We will be LIVE in his plea hearing. He is expected to plead guilty to the murders in the Parkland school massacre. The case will move to the penalty phase, if the plea goes through, to be heard at a later date.
12:51 PM · Oct 19, 2021

 

[SeesSeas]

Watch Live: Nikolas Cruz Change of Plea for Parkland Mass Shooting
Watch Live: Nikolas Cruz Change of Plea for Parkland Mass Shooting
Oct 20th, 2021, 8:29 am
The man charged with committing the Parkland mass shooting is expected to admit to murder and attempted murder charges on Wednesday. For most cases, guilty pleas mark the beginning of the end, but for Nikolas Cruz, 23, it is just a prologue to the real fight. They are going into Wednesday’s hearing without a plea agreement. Prosecutors have not budged on seeking the death penalty. That means both sides will have to make their case in a penalty phase. Court is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.
[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson·
5m
#NikolasCruz has formally pleaded guilty to 17 murders and 17 attempted murders.
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[SeesSeas]

Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson
6m
#NikolasCruz - Many victim family members in the gallery are crying, wiping eyes, shaking their heads while the prosectuors walks step-by-step what Cruz did that day as he moved through the school shooting.
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[SeesSeas]

https://twitter.com/cathyrusson/status/1450834274303680525
Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson
2m
#NikolasCruz SPEAKS: "I'm very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day..."
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to 17 counts of murder in 2018 Parkland school shooting (nbcnews.com)

Cruz, 23, also pleaded guilty to 17 counts of attempted murder in connection with the deadliest high school shooting in recent U.S. history.

Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, more than three years after gunning down 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer noted that the murder counts Cruz pleaded guilty to carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison with no parole.

Cruz, 23, and his lawyers last week surprised Scherer and prosecutors when they announced he planned to plead guilty to all 34 counts...

 

[SeesSeas]

Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
October 20, 2021 - 10:24 AM ET

Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing 17 people — 14 students and 3 staff members — at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., avoiding a trial but setting up a fight over his punishment for the 2018 attack.

Cruz's defense team is hoping to avoid the death sentence that prosecutors are seeking.

Cruz, 23, faces 17 charges of first-degree murder and an additional 17 charges of attempted murder. He had initially pleaded not guilty to all of the crimes, but his attorneys recently said they would not contest his guilt. Instead, the group of public defenders who represent Cruz have asked the court to sentence him to 17 life sentences.

In court Wednesday, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer read each murder victim's name aloud in court, before asking Cruz how he wished to plead.

"Guilty," Cruz replied, 17 times.

 

[SeesSeas]

Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson
3m
#NikolasCruz - Cruz will be formally sentenced on the 17 attempted murders (LWOP) AFTER the penalty phase in the 17 murders giving all victims and victim family members opp to speak at sentencing.
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[SeesSeas]

Cathy Russon
@cathyrusson
8m
#NikolasCruz - Jury selection for the penalty phase will begin Jan 4, 2022.
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[SeesSeas]

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to killing 17 in high school massacre | Daily Mail Online
20 October 2021
Nikolas Cruz, the 'cold and calculated' Parkland school shooter, blamed pot for the 2018 massacre of 14 students and three teachers after pleading guilty and apologizing to the victims' families as he now faces a possible death sentence.
[...]
Now 23, Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental health and behavioral issues at the time of the 'premeditated' killings, the Broward State's Attorney Office said in court documents.
[...]
At his sentencing Cruz asked whether he could address the victims and their families, who were pictured in court wearing shirts, pendants and jewelry in honor of their late loved ones.

'May I take off my mask?' he asked before saying: 'I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it everyday.
'If I were to get a second chance I would do everything in my power to help others.
'I do not care if you don't believe me,' he told the court, adding that he now gets 'nightmares sometimes... and can't even watch TV anymore.'

Cruz held back tears as he said: 'I hate drugs and I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana... I'm trying my best to maintain my composure and I just want you to know that I'm really sorry.'

Back in 2018, the killer admitted to cops that he used a lot of marijuana and Xanax after being diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age three, according to government documents.

Cruz also revealed that on more than one occasion, he used substances to try to intentionally overdose.
He stared down at the podium Wednesday throughout the entirety of his statement.
'I know it's your decision to decide whether I live or die,' he said to the judge.

'What I meant was that I believe that they should have the right to choose - the victims - whether I take life or death,' Cruz added, although he clarified to the judge that he understands the law, which says a jury will decide Cruz's fate.

 

[joe jones]

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz is NOT blaming marijuana for massacre despite his bizarre anti-drug rant, his brother says (thesun.co.uk)

his brother has spoken about his plea, states he doesn't think weed was an issue but hopes his mental health issues will now be examined

 

[joe jones]

I think when all the information is released their will be may issues that were not dealt with, I think he probably had severe mental health issues that were not propely dealt with but were known about, I hope he gets the treatment he so obviously (to me) needs and should have got pre the shootings,

I feel sorry for him as I don't think he can even fully explain or understand why he did it, and I can feel empathy and sympathy for him and all the people he killed and victimised at the same,

 

[SeesSeas]

Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Back In Court As Attorneys File Motions To Suppress Evidence
Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Back In Court As Attorneys File Motions To Suppress Evidence
October 26, 2021 at 12:24 pm
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was in court on Tuesday for a status hearing.

Last week, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, leaving a jury to decide whether he will be executed for the deadliest high school shooting in US history.

The guilty pleas set the stage for a penalty trial in which 12 jurors will determine whether the 23-year-old should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

However, on Tuesday morning, his lawyers filed a series of motions to suppress evidence in the case. Attorneys for both sides will meet with the judge next week to go over the motions ahead of that penalty phase jury selection.
[...]

Hearings scheduled for Nikolas Cruz ahead of jury selection
Hearings scheduled for Nikolas Cruz ahead of jury selection
Oct 26, 2021
[...]
The jury selection for the penalty phase is set to begin on Jan. 4, 2022, and Judge Elizabeth Scherer reminded attorneys they need to be vigilant with deadlines and outstanding motion procedures.

A portion of the approximately one-hour hearing was spent on deciding the outline of the jury pre-selection process. Questions remain on the number of jurors, what times they'd be interviewed, as well as the overall interview process.

One of the topics was what questions people will be asked in order for the jury to be selected.

Attorneys will have to submit an outline of the jury pre-selection process to Scherer by Monday, Nov. 1.
[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

https://www.cbs42.com/news/national/is-burgundy-maroon-gunmans-lawyers-argue-theyre-different/
Is burgundy maroon? Gunman’s lawyers argue they’re different
Nov 15, 2021
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for Florida high school shooter Nikolas Cruz told a judge Monday that detectives made false statements to get the search warrants allowing them to seize evidence from his cellphone and bedroom, including an argument over whether burgundy and maroon are the same color.
[...]
The detectives wrote Medina heard gunshots after Cruz entered the building. Medina had said he heard “pow, pow, pow” numerous times, but only later said they were gunshots. They wrote Medina called a “code red,” but he never did. Bashimam pointed out that both detectives wrote that Medina said Cruz was wearing a maroon shirt, but he actually said the suspect’s shirt was burgundy.

Both detectives said their statements were accurate paraphrases of Medina’s statement based on its entirety and were not meant to be direct quotes. Curcio also pointed out that Cruz had confessed and that was included in the affidavits.

At one point, Scherer stopped Bashimam, saying she thought burgundy and maroon were the same color. Bashimam argued that they are different but in any case, the detectives didn’t use the word Medina used.

Assistant state attorney Nicole Chiappone told Scherer that the detectives’ affidavits to the magistrate were accurate and if there were errors, they were minor and would not have changed the magistrate’s findings of probable cause to issue the warrants.
[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

Families of Parkland shooting victims settle lawsuit with DOJ for about $130 million
Families of Parkland shooting victims settle lawsuit with DOJ for about $130 million
November 22, 2021
Families of more than a dozen victims of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., have reached a settlement with the Justice Department to resolve their lawsuit over the FBI's failure to act on tips about the gunman.

In a joint court filing Monday, attorneys for the families and the department say they've reached an agreement to settle all the claims at issue in the case.
[...]

 

[SeesSeas]

Fred Guttenberg Wants Parkland Shooter 'Removed From This Earth the Fastest Way Possible'
Fred Guttenberg Wants Parkland Shooter 'Removed From This Earth the Fastest Way Possible'
November 29, 2021
Fred Guttenberg, the father of a Parkland school shooting victim, said he wants to see Nikolas Cruz "removed from this earth the fastest way possible" as the 23-year-old waits for a jury to sentence him early next year.

Guttenberg said that result could come "through a death penalty conviction or time in a prison with a general population," he told CNN on Monday. "But he serves no useful purpose, and I'd like to be able to move on from ever thinking of him again."
[...]

 

[joe jones]

Judge Denies Request To Take Death Penalty Off The Table In Case Against Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz

 

[JerseyGirl]

Florida judge postpones penalty trial for Parkland school shooter

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer stated in a court order that both parties requested more time to prepare experts for trial, saying they would not be ready to start on the scheduled date, Jan. 4. Scherer postponed the trial to Feb. 21.