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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Jurors within the penalty trial of Florida faculty shooter Nikolas Cruz bought their first view Monday of the AR-15-style rifle he used to homicide 17 college students and employees members 4 years in the past at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive College, staring intently because it was carried to the entrance of the courtroom.
Lead prosecutor Mike Satz eliminated the black semi-automatic Smith & Wesson from a cardboard field and carried it to Broward sheriff’s Sgt. Gloria Crespo, who stated it was present in a third-floor stairwell after the Feb. 14, 2018, bloodbath. Video seen by jurors beforehand confirmed Cruz positioned it on the touchdown alongside along with his backpack and the black shooter’s vest he had been carrying earlier than fleeing the college.
The protection objected to the weapon’s introduction, saying with out clarification that it lacked relevance and was unfairly prejudicial. The protection additionally objected to Satz inserting the gun on the ground behind him in straightforward view of the jurors as a substitute of inserting it on an proof desk away from them. Circuit Choose Elizabeth Scherer rejected the objections.
David S. Weinstein, a Miami felony protection lawyer and former prosecutor who isn’t concerned within the case, stated the protection believes that since Cruz pleaded responsible, the gun and different proof corresponding to surveillance video and crime scene pictures are now not related and serve to inflame the jurors’ feelings.
Prosecutors have efficiently argued that such proof is critical to show the murders included no less than one aggravating issue corresponding to being dedicated in a merciless or heinous method or throughout against the law that endangered the lives of many individuals.
Crespo additionally testified that Cruz, then 19, had 5 gun magazines remaining within the vest, containing 160 whole bullets. He had fired greater than 100 photographs as he stalked the three-story constructing for seven minutes, firing down hallways and into school rooms. The previous Stoneman Douglas pupil, who had been expelled a yr earlier, wounded 17 along with the 14 college students and three employees members.
The jurors additionally have been proven pictures Crespo took of the our bodies of 5 college students and a instructor who died on the third-floor, all shot at shut vary, and pictures from three autopsies. These weren’t proven to the gallery, the place a number of mother and father and members of the family sat, however have been later proven to reporters in personal. As most mass shooters die throughout their assaults and are not delivered to trial, it’s uncommon that such pictures are seen outdoors of legislation enforcement.
The crime scene pictures present two ladies and one boy mendacity useless subsequent to one another within the hallway, a Valentine’s Day stuffed animal subsequent to at least one woman’s head. One boy mendacity close by was shot 12 occasions, together with 4 occasions within the head. His post-mortem pictures confirmed gaping wounds to his cranium and shoulder — one feminine juror wiped away tears as these have been proven.
The mother and father of 1 boy and the spouse of a employees member wept because the docs mentioned their member of the family’s post-mortem. Members of different households grasped their palms and rubbed their shoulders, then hugged them when the session ended.
This displaying got here three days after jurors noticed their first graphic crime scene and post-mortem pictures. The protection has additionally objected to the images being proven, saying they’re unneeded and solely meant to arouse the jurors’ anger.
Earlier Monday, the seven-man and five-woman jury and their 10 alternates heard from Uber driver Laura Zecchini, whom Cruz employed to drive him to the college. She stated he appeared nervous through the 13-minute journey and was carrying a big black soft-sided carrying case. Cruz instructed Zecchini he was going to his music lesson.
Cruz pleaded responsible in October to 17 counts of first-degree homicide, so the jury will solely resolve if he’s sentenced to loss of life or life with out parole.
His is the deadliest mass capturing in U.S. historical past to succeed in trial. 9 U.S. gunmen in addition to Cruz who killed no less than 17 individuals died throughout or instantly after their shootings, both by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in a tenth, the 2019 slaying of 23 individuals at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.
When jurors ultimately get the case, most likely in October or November, they are going to vote 17 occasions, as soon as for every of the victims, on whether or not to suggest capital punishment.
For every loss of life sentence, the jury have to be unanimous or the sentence for that sufferer is life. The jurors are instructed that to vote for loss of life, the prosecution’s aggravating circumstances for that sufferer should, of their judgment, “outweigh” the protection’s mitigators. A juror can even vote for all times out of mercy for Cruz, now 23. Throughout jury choice, the panelists stated below oath that they’re able to voting for both sentence.
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Related Press author Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale contributed to this report.
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