Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial live updates: Defense rests its case in stunning move – By Hannah Phillips (Palm Beach Post) / Sept 14, 2022
FORT LAUDERDALE — Jurors returned to a Fort Lauderdale courtroom this week to hear the Parkland gunman’s defense in favor of life in prison.
In an unexpected turn, his team of public defenders announced Wednesday that it would rest its case despite having about 40 remaining witnesses scheduled to testify.
Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The 12-person jury will recommend whether Cruz, then 19 and now 23, is put to death or sentenced to life in prison. If it recommends death, a move that must be unanimous, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will make the final ruling likely sometime this fall.
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