The sentencing trial for the Parkland school shooter begins Monday: What to know

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fl. — Opening statements begin Monday in the trial of Nikolas Cruz for the murder of 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the deadliest U.S. mass shooting case to reach a jury.

Beginning this week, a 12-person jury and a Broward County judge will set out to decide the fate of the 23-year-old gunman, who pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of premeditated first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Cruz’s mental health likely will be at the center of the trial.

Testimony from more than 1,000 potential witnesses is expected to push the proceedings into late October. Cruz's team of Broward County public defenders tried to avoid a trial altogether last year by offering his guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence, but the state's lead prosecutor chose to pursue the death penalty.

Jurors will weigh back-to-back testimony rehashing America's deadliest high school shooting before they can recommend whether Cruz, who lived near Lantana in the weeks before the Parkland attack, should be sentenced to death.

In order to recommend execution, the decision must be unanimous. If one juror votes otherwise, Cruz will receive a mandatory life sentence without a chance of parole.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who will preside over the trial, will then make the final call on the death sentence. Capital punishment is legal in Florida. Since 1976, the state has executed 99 convicted murderers, according to The Marshall Project. As of Friday, July 15, 306 people await execution.

A slew of legal complications and controversies has delayed the trial for months, including last-minute motions by the defense to withhold certain graphic evidence from jurors. The last of the pre-trial hearings ended Wednesday.

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Opening statements begin Monday

Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday, despite a push by Cruz's defense team to delay the trial in light of recent mass shootings, which they argued could bias the jury.

The proceedings will take place each weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Broward County Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale. It's anticipated to last through the end of October.

Court TV is scheduled to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial, said Meredith Bush, a spokesperson for the court.

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Cruz's trial will be among the biggest in Broward County history and it will be held in the courthouse's largest courtroom.

She added that the trial will not be hosted over Zoom, though a private livestream may be available for victims' families.

What to expect from prosecutors and defense 

Cruz avoided a criminal trial when he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in October. The bulk of prosecutor's evidence against him is expected to come to light now, including about 450 photos and videos depicting the gory aftermath of the 2018 Valentine's Day shooting in Parkland, just southwest of Boca Raton.

Cruz's defense team motioned to suppress all 450 images, which they argued serve only to shock and overwhelm the jurors. But Scherer declined the motion this month, promising instead to decide on a case-by-case basis which images to permit in court. She also ruled that no graphic material will appear on TV monitors in the courtroom, to prevent leaks to the public.

Scherer was expected to decide Wednesday whether an analysis of Cruz's online behavior is relevant to jurors. Prosecutors say it reveals obsessions with swastikas, racial slurs, animal abuse, mass killings and child pornography.

The issue remains unresolved, as the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that a key witness wasn’t available for Wednesday's hearing.

The names of witnesses anticipated to testify are not published in advance, although Cruz's defense has said it plans to call upon experts to shed light on his mental health and troubles with socializing.

His attorneys must demonstrate that Cruz was motivated by a severe mental or emotional disturbance, known in death penalty cases as mitigating factors.

Jurors can recommend execution only if aggravating factors outnumber mitigating ones. The cruel or premeditated nature of a crime can count as an aggravating factor, as can the existence of a previous felony conviction. Cruz pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony in 2021 for assaulting a prison guard at the Broward County Jail nine months after the Parkland shooting.

Key people to know

Seven men and five women make up the jury. They include two bank executives, two tech workers, a probation officer, a human resources officer, a Walmart employee, a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, an immigration officer and a retired insurance executive. 

Judge Scherer, 45, a former Broward County prosecutor, has been the subject of scrutiny since she was assigned to Cruz's trial in 2018.

Cruz's defense team motioned for the judge to remove herself from the case in June after she denied a motion to delay the trial until a member of Cruz's defense team, who was sick with COVID-19, could return to court. Scherer denied the motion to recuse herself.

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The state's lead prosecutor, Michael Satz, served as the Broward County State Attorney from 1976 until 2021, but stepped down to focus on prosecuting Cruz. The public defenders also motioned to disqualify Satz because he refused to reconsider seeking the death penalty, though that was unsuccessful.

Melisa McNeill, who was appointed as chief assistant public defender to the Broward County Major Crimes Division in 2018, is Cruz's lead public defender.

McNeill has helped spare the lives of convicted killers over her 21-year legal career by urging them to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

Satz and McNeill will offer opening statements Monday.

Survivors of the shooting and family members of those killed also are expected to take the stand. Many, like Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter died at Stoneman Douglas, have become outspoken advocates of gun reform in the years since their children's deaths. 

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.