After Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and other charges, prosecutors no longer had to prove at trial that he carried out the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. His guilt was settled.
What the plea did not address was his sentence. In Florida, first-degree murder is a felony punishable by death or life in prison without parole. And state law requires a jury to determine which to be.
If the defendant had been convicted at trial, the same jury that rendered the verdict would have been retained for a separate sentencing proceeding. But when a defendant pleads guilty before trial to a felony, as Mr. Cruz did, the court must empanel a jury only for sentencing unless the defendant waives the right to a jury verdict.
What does the state do?
The prosecution’s job now is to convince the jury that there are aggravating circumstances in the case that would warrant the death penalty. Among the possible aggravating circumstances listed in the law are:
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That the killings were “particularly heinous, atrocious or cruel”;
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That the defendant “knowingly created a great risk of death to many people”;
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That the defendant killed “in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without claim to moral or legal justification.”
Prosecutors are expected to present detailed details of the 17 murders and 17 attempted murders at the high school, including hundreds of gruesome photos and videos. The jury may also tour the school building where the shooting took place.
“They’re going to try to make the jurors relive what happened to the victims,” said David S. Weinstein, a former prosecutor who is now a defense lawyer. “It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster.”
What does the defense do?
The defense will try to convince the jury that there are mitigating circumstances that would warrant leniency. Under the law, those circumstances can include, among other factors, that the defendant “was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance” or had a diminished capacity to know whether his actions were criminal.
Defense lawyers intend to show that Mr. Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, struggled with a difficult upbringing and mental health issues and sought treatment. They have asked for permission to show jurors a map of his brain, but the judge has not yet decided whether to allow it.
The task of the jury
After hearing the evidence, the jury must first decide whether the State has proved each of the alleged aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt. In order for a defendant to receive the death penalty, the jury must unanimously find at least one of the aggravating factors to be proven.
The jury will then consider whether the proven aggravating circumstances are sufficient to warrant a death sentence and outweigh any mitigating circumstances found, and if so, whether to recommend a death sentence to the court. To do this, the jury must again be unanimous; otherwise, the sentence recommendation should be life imprisonment without parole.
A court cannot impose a death sentence if a jury has recommended life imprisonment, but it can overturn the jury’s recommendation of death and impose a life sentence instead.
Strange case
The need for a special jury for sentencing is one of several ways in which the Parkland case is highly unusual. It is rare for someone as young as Mr. Cruz (he is now 23) to face the death penalty, and even rarer for someone who has carried out such a deadly mass shooting to survive to face justice.
“In some ways, we’re in completely uncharted waters,” said Robert M. Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida, who tracks mass killings. “You never get trials like that because the shooter is always dead.”
Patricia Mazzei contributed to this report.
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