Nikolas Cruz has already admitted in the killings of 17 at his former high school. Now the question is whether he will live or die?
The suspect in the south Florida high school shooting will plead guilty in the massacre if the death penalty is taken off the table, the public defender’s office said Friday.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, admitted he was behind the 17 killings inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. His lawyers at the public defender’s office say he is deeply troubled and remorseful over the shooting.
«I am overwhelmingly saddened that every system failed. The school system, the mental heath system, DCF, law enforcement and the FBI,» said Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office is representing Cruz. «Because we failed to stop it, and we could have, we should not kill the person who behaved as we feared but ignored.»
Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Finkelstein said he is unsure if prosecutors will agree to the idea of pulling the death penalty off the table.
«I hope» they will, he said. «No road map here.»
The State Attorney’s Office for Broward County told the Miami Herald «it is way too early in the investigation to talk about the death penalty,»
Indeed, it would be highly unusual for a deal to form just two days after the shooting happened.
At Cruz’s first appearance, Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes told a judge the 19 year old was a «broken child» who «has endured a lot of emotional trauma in a short period of time.»
She added the downward spiral started with this death of his mother in November.
Finkelstein said whatever happens with Cruz’s future on thing remains clear: this tragedy has left an irreparable wound on his community.
«In the 40 years I have been in this courthouse, I have seen a lot of murder and mayhem but nothing is even in the same universe as this,» he said. «This devastation has caused a permanent wound in the victims family’s and the community. All of us will be forever changed.»
Follow Christal Hayes on Twitter at @Journo_Christal
