The jury must be unanimous to recommend death for Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to the deadly 2018 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

As we wait for the jury’s sentencing decision for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to be read, the seating section for the victim’s family is full — there’s no empty seat to be seen in the courtroom.

Three alternate jurors are also in the courtroom to hear the verdict.

Lead prosecutor Mike Satz is in there now, too.

Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill gives her closing argument in the penalty phase on Tuesday.

Lawyers for Nikolas Cruz are asking jurors to spare the life of the Parkland, Florida school shooter. Lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill asked jurors to sentence her client to life in prison, not the death penalty. She told the panel it’s the right thing to do during her closing arguments. 

McNeill wants jurors to separate Cruz the human being from the mass shooting that left 17 people dead. “What Nikolas Cruz did should make you angry and sad. There is nothing wrong with feeling those feelings,” she told them. 

McNeill said the State is playing on the jury’s emotions by showing them graphic videos and images from the February 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. “By showing you pictures and videos again, the state of Florida wants to put you in a place of hate, anger, and vengeance,” she said. 

Family members of some of the victims could be seen nodding their heads in disagreement as McNeill spoke.

McNeill appealed to the jury to have mercy on Cruz. “Giving mercy to Nikolas Cruz will say more about who you are, than it says about him,” she said. 

McNeill reminded jurors that this is a decision they can never take back.  

The defense’s case came to an unexpected end when – having called just 26 of 80 planned witnesses – public defenders assigned to represent Cruz abruptly rested, leading the judge to admonish the team for what she said was unprofessionalism, resulting in a courtroom squabble between her and the defense (the jury was not present).

Scherer went on to question Cruz about the decision to rest, making sure he had an opportunity to discuss it with his lawyers and understood it meant no one else, including his brother Zachary Cruz, would take the stand in his defense.

“Are you comfortable with the decision?” Scherer asked.

“Yes,” Cruz replied.

Defense attorneys would later file a motion to disqualify the judge for her comments, arguing in part they suggested the judge was not impartial and Cruz’s right to a fair trial had been undermined. Prosecutors disagreed, writing “judicial comments, even of a critical or hostile nature, are not grounds for disqualification.”

Scherer ultimately denied the motion.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s 1200 building has been sealed since the massacre on Feb. 14, 2018.

Jurors in the sentencing phase of the school shooter’s trial walked through the undisturbed scene, where the blood of the victims still stains classroom floors.

Bullet holes also mark the walls of the Parkland, Florida, school where Nikolas Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members.

A lock of dark hair remains on a floor more than four years after the body of a victim was taken away. Valentine’s Day gifts and cards are strewn about, as shards of glass crunched beneath of the feet of visitors.

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Defense attorney Melisa McNeill holds a photograph of Nikolas Cruz’s birth mother, Brenda Woodard, during her closing argument in the penalty phase on Tuesday.

The public defenders assigned to represent Cruz have asked the jury to take into account his troubled history, from a dysfunctional family life to serious mental and developmental issues, with attorney Melisa McNeill describing him earlier in the trial as a “damaged and wounded” person.

“His brain is broken,” she said during her opening statement in August. “He’s a damaged human being.”

Among the first witnesses was Cruz’s older sister, Danielle Woodard, who testified their mother, Brenda Woodard, used drugs and drank alcohol while pregnant with him – something McNeill said made his brain “irretrievably broken” through no fault of his own.

“She introduced me to a life that no child should be introduced to,” she said. “She had no regards for my life or his life.”

The defense also called teachers and educators who spoke to developmental issues and delays Cruz exhibited as a young child, including challenges with vocabulary and motor skills. Various counselors and psychiatrists also testified, offering their observations from years of treating or interacting with Cruz.

Read more about this here.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Satz gestures as if he is holding a rifle while giving his closing argument in the penalty phase on Tuesday.

The lengthy trial of Parkland massacre gunman Nikolas Cruz – jury selection began six months ago, in early April – saw prosecutors and defense attorneys present evidence of aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances, reasons Cruz should or should not be put to death.

The state has pointed to seven such aggravating factors — including that the killings were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, as well as cold, calculated and premeditated — lead prosecutor Michael Satz said during the trial. Other aggravating factors include the fact the defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many people and that he disrupted a lawful government function – in this case, the running of a school.

Together, these aggravating factors “outweigh any mitigation about anything about the defendant’s background or character,” Satz said.

Underscoring their argument, prosecutors presented evidence showing the gunman spent months searching online for information about mass shootings and left behind social media comments sharing his express desire to “kill people.”

Some of his Google searches included broad, generic terms, like “murder” or “shooting people.” Others indicated he sought information on specific mass shootings and the people who carried them out. He also searched for a map of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, from which he’d been expelled, and for information on “how long does it take for a cop to show up at a school shooting.” And on YouTube, Cruz left comments like “Im going to be a professional school shooter,” and promised to “go on a killing rampage.”

Read more about this here.

The jury in the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz has reached a decision. Its recommendation is expected to be read in court at 10:30 a.m. ET. 

They will recommend whether to recommend the Parkland school shooter be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table for closing arguments in the penalty phase in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday.

The jury in the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, 24, has reached a decision on whether to sentence the Parkland school shooter to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

The jury’s recommendation is expected to be read in court shortly. 

Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the February 2018 shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in which 14 students and three school staff members were killed, and 17 others were injured. 

Students are brought out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the shooting on February 14, 2018.

Jurors must be unanimous to recommend a death sentence under Florida law, or Cruz will receive a sentence of life in prison. If they recommend death, the ultimate decision on Cruz’s sentence would go to Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who could choose to either follow the jury’s guidance or sentence the gunman, now 24, to life in prison.