Defense attorneys for Nikolas Cruz, who is facing the death penalty for the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, on Wednesday made an unexpected announcement.
Cruz’s defense team earlier told the court that they would call 80 witnesses. The defense decision means after a state rebuttal case, jurors will soon be asked to begin deliberating whether Cruz should be executed for the rampage that killed 14 students and three staffers, and wounded 17 others.
They will rest their case. His lawyers announced in court that they had concluded their defense after 11 days and over 20 witnesses — the final one a nationally known fetal alcohol researcher who testified that Cruz’s birth mother drank heavily during her pregnancy with the future school shooter.
Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last fall, setting the stage for the “penalty phase” in which jurors will be asked to decide whether to send him to Death Row or sentence him to life in prison.
The defense’s decision to rest caught off guard prosecutors and Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who blasted the Public Defender’s Office for not letting her know in advance that no more witnesses would be called. “I have never experienced this level of un-professionalism in my career. Its unbelievable,” Scherer said.
The abrupt ending to the defense case left the court scrambling to arrange a new schedule, and prosecutors needing to reach out to its final witnesses.
Both sides agreed that the state’s rebuttal case will begin Sept. 27, with closing arguments and deliberations set the week starting Oct. 10.
The defense team officially rested in front of the jury late Wednesday morning, after the judge questioned Cruz and prosecutors read a list of defense witnesses who did not testify, to ensure he was OK with them not taking the stand. “Are you comfortable with this decision?” the judge asked Cruz, who agreed he was.
Prosecutors concluded their case early last month, calling 91 witnesses that including traumatized student survivors, medical examiners who cataloged the ghastly bullet wounds to the murdered victims, and the shattered relatives of the dead.
On the final day of the state’s case in chief, jurors also toured the site of the massacre, the freshman building still stained with blood, and littered with shattered glass and discarded Valentine’s Day cards and gifts.
In defending Cruz, the Broward Public Defender’s Office has focused on Cruz’s biological mother, Brenda Woodard, a troubled prostitute long beset by an addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol. Woodard gave Cruz up for adoption at birth, but by then, the damage to Cruz’s developing brain has been significant, defense experts has maintained.
Cruz’s biological sister, Danielle Woodard, testified on Monday that as a young girl, she often saw her mother drinking while pregnant with her baby brother. “Nikolas was developing in her polluted womb,” Danielle Woodard told jurors.
Dr. Kenneth Jones, a leading researcher on damage caused to fetuses by prolonged alcohol use, told jurors on Tuesday that medical records revealed the defendant’s mother alarming habit while pregnant. He said he had “never seen so much alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman.” Jones testified that fetal alcohol damage can cause temper tantrums, aggression and major behavioral issues.
Defense witnesses have told jurors that Cruz was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, had problems with motor skills and focusing, lashed out and attacked fellow students as a young child, and tormented his widowed mother, destroying TVs and punching holes in walls along with his half-brother, Zachary.
Another defense expert, Paul Connor, a neuropsychologist, also testified on Monday about the severe effects of alcohol on a fetus and the development of a child. His defense has also focused on system failures for Cruz, noting that despite his outbursts, he was not kept in a special school for at-risk children and was not committed for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation. Under Florida law, the jury has to be unanimous in voting for the death penalty — meaning all the defense needs is one person to reject execution as punishment. “In telling you Nikolas’ story, in telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life,” Broward Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill told jurors during her opening statement last month.
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Just give him the death penalty already!! Now ADD/ADHD will be used in the future to try and “explain away” people’s behavior…Drop this POS into a hole and forget about him…I feel for the ones who survived his rampage having to endure his punishment phase. He’s EVIL, TWISTED, and deserves NO PLACE in our society…
I realize defense attorneys ethically have to do everything possible to defend clients who are guilty as sin. However, the evidence is clear that Cruz knew right from wrong, carefully plotted this attack to the point of having gone to multiple gun shops before he was able to buy his rifle, and after he concluded his rampage he dislodged his tactical vest and joined in with the students fleeing the school so he could make his get away. That shows both understanding of what he was going to do, clear intent, and also a getaway plan. All this BS about fetal alcohol syndrome and lack of mental health care is all window dressing designed to avoid the death penalty. The jury should be quick to rule in favor of the death penalty and thus give Nicko the same fate that he visited on others.
I agree with both Martin and Kendall. This piece of trash knew just what he was doing and had everything planed out. All he deserves is death.
I agree with all 3 of the previous commentors. I think Cruz should be sentenced to death in the same manner of those he killed. Let the parents of the children he killed, each have a shot at him with the same type of weapon he used in the killings. It would be a deserved justice as far as I am concerned.
That’s still no excuse for what he did. He could have tried toget help. Leave in prison for life. What would that change. The damage to his brain is in repairable. And you cannot take the chance of him being let loose, period. So times there are no other choices but the death penalty.