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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - On Wednesday, Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty to the school shooting that claimed the lives of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
7News legal expert Howard Finkelstein weighed in on what is expected to happen next in the penalty phase.
“It’s going to be a trial, but what’s different is it’s less formal,” he said. “There’s evidentiary restrictions, and pretty much either side can bring in anything that is relevant to either an aggravating factor or a mitigating factor.”
Finkelstein said this phase will be incredibly emotional and families will have to relive the horror of what took place that day.
“The penalty phase is probably going to be the most intense hearing — or call it a mini-trial — that anyone has ever seen. It will be raw, emotional pain and trauma,” he said.
The state will be able to bring in the surviving victims of the massacre and the family members of the 17 victims who did not survive for victim impact testimonies.
“The students that were shot and didn’t die immediately and watched, for instance, Nikolas Cruz approaching and firing repeatedly, suffered increased horror that the law says, can justify a death sentence.
Videos will also be played in the court hearing, including videos showing Cruz moving through the building going floor by floor.
“They’re going to use the videos the defendant made the day or two before the shooting at Parkland to show that he had been planning it,” Finkelstein said.
Prosecutors will try to convince the jurors that the shooter deserves the death penalty, while the defense will push for life in prison.
“The defense is going to present what’s called mitigating factors and they are going to show what an awful life the defendant had and how his behavior screamed out for somebody to help and both the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Henderson Mental Health Center and the school system failed to either serve or treat him, as well as protect the other students who were killed in that school,” Finkelstein said.
Jury selection is set to begin on Jan. 4.
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