UPDATED: 10:40AM (ASSOCIATED PRESS) – Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. The decision ends a three-month trial that included graphic videos and photos, and heart-wrenching testimony from victims’ family members. Many family members shook their heads, looked angry or covered their eyes as the jury’s decision was read. Some parents sobbed as they left court. A judge will formally sentence Cruz on Nov. 1.
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UPDATED 9:56AM:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – A Florida judge is reading the verdict in the murder trial of Nikolas Cruz.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – A jury says it has decided on the verdict for the Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz. A death sentence would require a unanimous decision for the 2018 massacre that killed 17 people. The jury’s recommendation Thursday was not immediately released and came in the second day of deliberations.
It will end a three-month trial that included graphic videos and photos from the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. If the jury recommends the death penalty, it will be up to a judge to make a final decision. If the jury isn’t unanimous on recommending a death sentence, then Cruz would get life in prison.