A jury in Florida voted to spare Nikolas Cruz the death penalty last month, opting instead for life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 24-year-old pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. The jury in Cruz’s three-month trial voted 9-3 to sentence him to death last month, but Florida law requires unanimity to impose the sentence. On Wednesday, Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him to 17 consecutive life terms for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre and an additional 17 terms for the attempted murders of those he injured. The relatives address the murderer The sentence came after relatives of his victims spoke face-to-face for two days.
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Anne Ramsay, mother of 17-year-old Helena Ramsay, told him he was “pure evil”. Inez Hixon, daughter-in-law of the school’s director of athletics Chris Hixon, called him a “domestic terrorist”. Image: Anne Ramsay holds a photo of her daughter Helena Image: Debbie Hixon holds a photo of her husband Chris Hixon David Alhadeff, Alyssa Alhadeff’s uncle, told Cruz he deserves “a chance to rot.” “You deserve the chance to absorb the look of terror on your face once you leave this room,” he said. “You deserve the opportunity to know that at some point justice will prevail, causing you great anguish, minute by minute, day by day.” The judge praised the families and the injured for testifying, calling them strong, graceful and patient. “I know you’re going to be OK, because you have each other,” Judge Scherer said. Image: Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas days after the deadly attack Cruz, an expelled student, was 19 when he used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members. He had apologized for his crimes and asked to be sentenced to life in prison without parole to dedicate his lie to helping others. The massacre led to renewed calls for tighter gun control in the US, which have gained further support this year after the shooting of 19 children and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas, and another shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. left 10 dead.
