After rejecting prosecutors' calls for the death penalty, a Florida jury has agreed upon a sentencing of life in prison with no possibility for parole for Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz.
The official sentencing, handed down by Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Wednesday, reflects each of the 17 counts of murder which Cruz has pleaded guilty to in light of the February 14, 2018 shooting which took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In addition, Scherer "imposed a sentence of life in prison with a minimum of 20 years to serve on 14 of the 17 counts of attempted murder, and life without the possibility of parole for the remaining three counts of attempted murder. All counts are to run consecutively," according to CNN.
Although the sentencing is not what the families of Cruz's victims had hoped for, a number of them are expressing relief that the man who claimed the lives of their children will spend the rest of his behind bars.
"It is heartbreaking how any person who heard and saw all this did not give this killer the worst punishment possible," said Annika Dworet, mother of 17-year-old victim Nicholas Dworet, in testimony delivered prior to sentencing. "As we all know the worst punishment in the state of Florida is the death penalty. How much worse would the crime have to be to warrant the death penalty?"
"You robbed Alyssa (of) a lifetime of memories," Lori Alhadeff, mother of 14-year-old victim Alyssa Alhadeff, said during her own impact testimony. "Alyssa will never graduate from high school. Alyssa will never go to college, and Alyssa will never play soccer. She will never get married and she will never have a baby . . . My hope for you is that you are miserable for the rest of your pathetic life. My hope for you is that the pain of what you did to my family burns and traumatizes you every day."
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"Nikolas Cruz sat through the entire trial & sentencing without showing the least indication of humanity," one person said on Twitter following the sentencing. "Only occasionally laughing with his dirtbag bird flipping atty. He's simply been an empty shell of a human figure, with empty dead eyes behind his glasses."
"You make me sick!" said father of victim Alex Schachter during his victim impact statement.
Watch footage from the sentencing below via WSVN 7 News.
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