Jury will decide whether Nikolas Cruz faces life in prison or the death penalty after pleading guilty to the murders of 17 people
Highlights
- Jury selection in the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz began on Monday after years of delay due to Covid-19 pandemic.
- 1,500 candidates or more could be brought before circuit judge Elizabeth Scherer, prosecutors and Cruz’s public defenders for initial screening over the next several weeks.
- Cruz, 23, has already pled guilty to the murders at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, meaning a jury will decide whether he faces life in prison or death penalty.
- Cruz will be sentenced to death only if the jury unanimously agrees that aggravating factors such as the number of people he killed, his planning and his cruelty outweigh such mitigating factors as his lifelong mental illness.