CNN –
Here’s what we know: Nikolas Cruz, the now 24-year-old who admitted to killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in February 2018, has avoided the death penalty.
A jury on Thursday recommended he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a decision that angered many of the victims’ families who said allowing him to live in Cruz is not justice.
“Life in prison is NOT a punishment! This is exactly what I wanted,” Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who was killed in the massacre, wrote on Twitter. He said the decision means Cruz will likely be protected while in custody, will be able “read, draw, receive phone calls and mail,” while “his 17 victims suffered fear” before killing them.
These are the victims of the Parkland school shooting
There’s still a lot we don’t know about what the rest of Cruz’s life in prison will look like, most of which will likely be resolved once he’s formally sentenced early next month.
But here’s what could come next:
‘Decision is another punch’: Parkland victim’s father speaks out after Cruz jury recommendation
Thursday’s jury recommendation is just that: a recommendation and not an official ruling. Since Thursday, jurors have spoken out about what they described as intense deliberations, with one juror reporting feeling threatened; a complaint now being investigated by the local sheriff’s office.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer is expected to formally sentence Cruz on Nov. 1 at 9 a.m. But under Florida law, the judge cannot depart from the jury’s recommendation of life in prison.
Victims and family members are expected to speak before sentencing.
But as for the sentence itself, the jury’s recommendation is final, Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes said at a news conference Thursday, adding the state that “victims have the constitutional right to be heard at all stages of the procedure”.
“The court will respect that right and give them an opportunity to be heard. And we appreciate that, and we recognize that, and that needs to be followed,” Weekes said. “However, we also have to recognize that the jurors in the case went through several days of very, very difficult and traumatic evidence, and they heard everything, weighed everything and returned a verdict. We have to respect that.” .
Cruz also has the right to make a statement at sentencing if he chooses, according to Janet Johnson, a Florida criminal defense attorney.
Cruz, who has been in jail in Broward County since 2018, was also sentenced to 25 years in state prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a prison officer in November of that year.
He will likely remain in county custody for a couple of weeks after his sentencing before being placed in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections and transported to one of several reception centers around the state.
On Thursday, Weekes said Cruz will likely be taken to the South Florida Reception Center.
He will spend several weeks at the shelter “doing physicals, mental health screenings,” Johnson said. “They’re going to look at his record, they’re going to look at the level of offense he’s been convicted of, which is obviously the highest, and they’re going to recommend a facility somewhere in the state.”
The facility chosen is determined “by reviewing the seriousness of (the inmate’s) crimes, length of sentence, time left to serve, prior criminal record, escape history, prison adjustment and other factors,” according to the Florida Department of Corrections website.
“The most serious offenders with the longest sentences and those least likely to adapt to institutional life are placed in more secure facilities,” the corrections department’s website noted. Based on these assessments, the person is transferred to the facility that is considered most appropriate.
Because Cruz is a high-risk offender, he will likely be placed in a prison with other high-profile or “very dangerous” criminals, Johnson said.
“But he wouldn’t be in isolation, which of course is a real threat to him because there may be people who want to do ‘justice in prison’, who didn’t feel the sentence he got in court was enough.” , Johnson. added
According to a corrections department handbook, there are several classifications of inmate custody, including close custody for inmates who “must be kept within an armed perimeter or under direct armed supervision when outside a secure perimeter”.
The corrections department did not respond to CNN’s questions about what type of custody Cruz may be placed in.
Lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill also hinted at the dangers Cruz will face in prison during his closing arguments in the death penalty trial, saying he will “wait to die” in a facility, “whether due to natural causes or anything else that may happen to him. while he is in prison”.
And at a news conference after the jury’s recommendation, Linda Beigel Schulman, the mother of geography teacher Scott Beigel, who was killed at the high school, said Cruz “will have to look over his shoulder ( in prison) every minute for the rest of his life.”
“I hope he has fear in him, every second of his life, just as he gave that fear to all our loved ones, whom he murdered,” he said. “He should live with that fear, and he should be afraid every second of the day of his life.”
Parents of the Parkland victims, including Schachter, have pointed to parts of life that Cruz will still experience while in prison that their children were robbed of.
It includes receiving mail and seeing visitors, which he will likely be entitled to do, Johnson said. He might also have a tablet through which he can send emails and text messages to other people, Johnson added.
The corrections department’s website noted that inmates and their families can communicate using “interactive and stationary kiosks available in general population housing units, as well as tablets.” These services are available at all major correctional institutions in Florida, depending on the site.
“And you can see the argument (from the victims’) families saying, ‘We can’t do this,'” Johnson added. “And it’s understandable.”
The corrections department also did not respond to CNN’s question about what kind of mental health treatment Cruz may receive while in prison.
During the trial, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released more than 30 pages of Cruz’s writings and drawings that revealed disturbing thoughts he had while in custody that focused on guns, blood and death. On one page, Cruz wrote: “All I want is to go to death row. I don’t want life. Please help me go to death row.” On the other hand, he turned to his family and told them that he was sad and expected to die of a heart attack by taking painkillers and eating extremely.
Additionally, while in prison, Cruz drew pictures of bullets, guns, and people being shot. He wrote that he “never wanted to be alive”, and hopes that he dies and never wakes up and that “my life is painful, always will be”.
Her defense team argued that Cruz is a “brain-damaged, mentally ill” person who, among other conditions, suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, stemming from her mother’s substance and alcohol abuse. mother during pregnancy, McNeill said during closing arguments.
And Cruz appeared to be in control of his behavior in the courtroom, McNeill said, because “he’s on medication and under psychiatric care. He’s being treated by the prison psychologist.”
Cruz will receive a psychiatric evaluation when he arrives at the shelter, Johnson said, which will help determine his diagnosis and what medication he may require.