FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The death penalty trial for the Parkland school shooter is days away. The victims and their families have been waiting years for justice. The confessed killer took 17 lives and now a jury must decide if the state will take his.
The sentencing trial, which will determine the fate of the man who killed 17 people and injured 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, four and half years ago, is finally set to begin on Monday.
The trial is set to take months, as 12 people will decide if the shooter spends the rest of his life in prison or is sentenced to death.
As the jurors are about to get to work, the testimony is expected to be excruciating.
“These jurors will be changed forever and ever,” said Howard Finkelstein, 7News legal analyst. “They will not be the same people that they are when their service is done.”
The families who lost loved ones are already changed, like Debbie Hixon, who’s husband Chris died saving lives.
Thursday should have been their 32nd wedding anniversary.
“Those special days — birthdays, holidays, anniversaries — they’re extra hard,” said Hixon.
She spent Friday at the cemetery, and Monday she’ll be in the courtroom.
“I asked him to give me strength,” said Hixon. “I don’t know how we’re going to get through it. We are, because we don’t have a choice.”
Scott Beigel’s mother will also be in the courtroom this coming Monday.
“It’s been 1,613 days since Scott was murdered, since the mass shooting. That’s a long time,” said Beigel. “There have been days where I don’t want to get out of bed. I mean, I have to be honest with you, but for me the trial finally happening and knowing that down the line there will be a verdict rendered, that part will definitely be closure.”
“You’re just angry all the time, and to be able to put that behind us and find a new way to move forward is somewhat of a relief,” said Hixon.
The now 23-year-old Cruz has already pleaded guilty to the mass shooting. If sentenced to death he’ll be one of the youngest ever in the state to face the death penalty.
Prosecutors are expected to detail his every move that deadly day.
“Mike Satz has a tendency to be very methodical,” said Finkelstein. “He’s gonna lay out exactly what happened, how everyone got there, what went down in that building and what happened afterwards.”
In order for Cruz to face a death sentence it will require a unanimous decision and though the defense requested jurors be kept anonymous, the judge denied it.
“It’s gonna take a lot of courage for a juror that lives in Broward County to recommend life knowing everybody, every one of their neighbors will know who voted for life,” said Finkelstein.
Opening statements begin Monday at 9 a.m.
The trial is expected to go on until October.
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