“This way, the jury didn’t hear (the evidence) twice because they didn’t have to decide on guilt.'
That decision meant jurors spent less time in court immersed in the extensive evidence of Cruz’s horrific actions on the Parkland campus.Without the need for a lengthy trial, jurors instead went straight to a sentencing hearing, where public defenders argued that Cruz suffered brain damage and a troubled childhood, which they argued should mitigate the cruelty of his actions.
The jurors’ decision to opt for a life sentence also simplified what could have been a long and complicated process after the sentence. Because relatively few mass shooters survive to face the criminal justice system, Cruz’s case drew extraordinary attention and public anger.
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