A Florida judge formally sentenced Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without parole for the 2018 campus attack that killed 14 students and three staff members.
This judgment came after dramatic statements from victims and victims’ families.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer followed the jury’s recommendation to spare the 24-year-old the death penalty. Instead, Cruz was sentenced to a lifetime behind bars.
Just last month the jury voted 9 to 3 to give Cruz the death penalty, but there is a Florida law that dictates anything less than a unanimous vote automatically shifts the sentence to life without parole.
On Nov. 2, the judge told victims and their loved ones she admired their strength before sentencing Cruz on 34 total counts of murder or attempted murder.
“Thank you family members for the privilege of learning about each and every one of your loved ones. I can tell you they will not be forgotten,” Scherer said. “If I could take the pain away or carry it for you for just five minutes so that you could breathe … I would.”
As Scherer read her sentencing, most of the victims or their family members were quiet, while some shed tears. Cruz remained expressionless.
Ilan Alhadeff, father of Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, who was killed in the shooting, said Wednesday, “Let me show how angry and frustrated I am with the judicial system. After 4 ½ grueling years, a failed judicial system did not hand down a death sentence to the murderer of my daughter and 16 others,” he said. “Do I see this as accountability? Absolutely not. Do we now have closure? Let me be clear, absolutely not. What I see is that the system values this animal’s life over the 17 now dead. Worse, we sent a message to the next killer out there that the death penalty would not be applied to mass killing. This is wrong and needs to be fixed immediately.”
Victoria Gonzalez spoke in court about the death of her boyfriend Joaquin Oliver, 17, who was fatally shot by the gunman.
“I wish that you met Joaquin because he would have been your friend,” Gonzalez said. “He would have extended a hand to you. He would have loved you.”
She added, “I’m sorry that you never saw the love the world is capable of giving.”
