Nikolas Cruz sentencing – latest: Prosecution rests rebuttal case in sentencing trial of Parkland shooter
The prosecution has rested its rebuttal case in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, the 24-year-old gunman who murdered 17 students and staff members in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School back on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Closing arguments will now take place on Tuesday with jurors expected to begin deliberations within a matter of days – where they will decide whether to sentence the Parkland shooter to life in prison or to death.
During the state’s rebuttal, prosecutors have sought to show that Cruz is a sociopath who carefully planned the massacre for many months – even years – before carrying out one of the worst school shootings in US history.
Clinical neuropsycholohgist Dr Robert Denney testified on Thursday that Cruz has antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder – but not fetal alcohol spectrum disorder as the defence has claimed.
Jurors were also shown footage of Cruz telling the expert that he was sexually abused when he was nine years old by a boy who lived next door.
Nikolas Cruz sentencing
Parkland shooter claims he was sexually abused by neighbour
Cruz was ‘grossly exaggerating’ mental illness, says expert
Two men accused of exploiting shooter’s brother
Court sees footage of terrified students as gunshots ring out
Cruz claimed he ‘showed mercy’ before murdering victims over ‘nasty look’
Cruz reveals reason he chose Valentine’s Day for attack
Jurors see harrowing videos Cruz made before attack
Monday 3 October 2022 17:00 , Rachel Sharp
Jurors were shown harrowing videos Cruz made in the days before the mass shooting, where he described his plans to kill 20 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In one of the videos, Cruz is off camera and is heard saying: “Today is the day... all of the kids in school will run in fear and hide... I am nothing, I am no one, my life is nothing.”
“With the power of my AR you will know who I am,” he says.
He calmly describes his plan to get an Uber to the school and then carry out the massacre.
In one of the videos, he faces the camera and calmly details the key plans for the attack, laughing about murdering people.
“My name is Nik,” he says at the start.
Once he arrives at the school, he casually says “then I shoot people down at the main courtyrard... and then people will die.’
“My goal is 20 people, my location is Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida. It’s going to be a big event,” he says.
“When you see me on the news you’ll all know who I am,” Cruz says, breaking into a smile and laugh.
“You’re all going to die,” he says, before making a shooting sound to the camera.
Dr Scott testified that Cruz is “calm, organised, speaking slowly” in the videos which were made days before the shooting.
Cruz reveals reason he chose Valentine’s Day for attack
Monday 3 October 2022 17:10 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz revealed to Dr Scott his reasons for choosing Valentine’s Day for the mass shooting.
Dr Scott told jurors that Cruz chose the holiday specifically because the day is “difficult” for him because “he has no one to love and no one to love him”.
Cruz reveals reason he ended massacre when he did
Monday 3 October 2022 17:30 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz revealed that the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School only came to an end because he “couldn’t find anyone to kill”.
In an interview in March 2022, Dr Scott is seen asking Cruz what led him to end the Valentine’s Day 2018 attack when he did.
“I couldn’t find anyone to kill,” Cruz replied.
Cruz told Dr Scott how he tried to shoot through the windows of the freshman building and smash the glass so that he could open fire on the crowds of terrified students evacuating the school.
But, he was unable to break through the glass.
As a result, he left his AR-15 and tactical vest on the ground of the third floor of the building and fled the school among the crowd.
Cruz claimed he ‘showed mercy’ to victims before murdering them over ‘nasty look'
Monday 3 October 2022 18:10 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz claimed that he “showed mercy” to two of his victims – before slaughtering them with his assault rifle because they gave him a “nasty look”.
Cruz murdered Cara Loughran,14, and Meadow Pollack, 18, as they tried to huddle together in the alcove of a classroom door on the third floor.
“I think I showed mercy to those two girls,” the killer told Dr Scott in the video interview played in court on Monday.
“I was going to walk away but they started to show nasty faces.”
When asked how he showed them mercy, he claimed he wasn’t going to shoot them but then decided to because of a “nasty look”.
“I was thinking about shooting them but I didn’t want to do it so was going to walk away down the hallway,” he claimed.
“But they gave me a nasty look,” he said, pulling down his Covid-19 face mask to pull a face.
Cruz then claimed he thought they would try to stop him. “I didn’t even aim or anything, I just shot,” he claimed.
Cruz also claimed that “the security guard” also “gave me a nasty look so I shot him in the head” – referring to athletic director Chris Hixon who died trying to save his students.
“Peter Wang also gave me a nasty look,” claimed Cruz, of the 15-year-old Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet.
Cruz calmly describes graphic details of murders
Monday 3 October 2022 18:30 , Rachel Sharp
The video footage played in court on Monday morning shows Cruz calmly describing the graphic details of his murderous rampage.
While he claimed so-called “nasty looks” spurred him on to kill some of his victims, this appeared to contradict other comments he made.
Cruz described how he saw one of his victims – freshman student Jaime Guttenberg – “crawling” on the third floor and so “I shot her in the back”.
When asked why, Cruz told Dr Scott: “I told you, I wanted to kill as many people as I could... so I shot her in the back, I shot her twice.”
The gunman said he believed Peter Wang was the last person he shot, chillingly describing the horrific moment he shot the teenager in the head.
“His head blew up like a water balloon,” Cruz calmly told the psychiatrist.
Dr Scott returns to stand
Monday 3 October 2022 19:34 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Scott returned to the witness stand on Monday afternoon where he outlined the difference between antisocial personality disorder and neurodevelopmental disorder.
The psychiatrist said that antisocial personality disorder is “not a disorder closely tethered to... a particular brain abnormality”.
Instead, it is a “behavioural” issue.
Cross-examination of Dr Scott begins
Monday 3 October 2022 19:50 , Rachel Sharp
The defence has begun its cross-examination of Dr Scott.
Attorney Melisa McNeill questioned the psychiatrist about the records about Cruz’s biological mother Brenda Woodard drinking while pregnant with him.
During his direct testimony, Dr Scott raised doubts about how much Woodard abused alcohol at the time.
Ms McNeill showed the court doctor’s notes revealing that Woodard lost weight between March and July 1998. Cruz was born that September.
In June 1998, she was arrested for possession of cocaine.
Other notes reveal that Woodard was concerned that she would test positive for drugs or alcohol. Dr Scott responded saying that the doctor’s notes say her concerns were because of a prescription drug she had been given.
Court briefly interrupted over panic alarm
Monday 3 October 2022 20:00 , Rachel Sharp
The court proceedings were briefly interrupted after the judge said she accidentally pressed the panic button.
Attorney Melisa McNeill was questioning Dr Scott under cross-examination when Judge Elizabeth Scherer suddenly stopped proceedings.
The court was silent with both defence and prosecution attorneys appearing confused.
The judge then apologised, saying she had accidentally pressed the alarm and telling the defence they could continue with questioning.
Defence seeks to pick holes in Dr Scott’s testimony
Monday 3 October 2022 20:27 , Rachel Sharp
The defence is seeking to pick holes in Dr Scott’s testimony, raising questions about Cruz’s test scores, how well planned the massacre was and some of the things he did on the day of the massacre.
Dr Scott acknowledged that Cruz took an Uber pool to the school, carried his gun undisguised in a rifle bag across the school yard, didn’t load the rifle before arriving at the school, didn’t try to break into locked classrooms, left the gun behind and then hung out in the nearby area in the aftermath – instead of making an attempt to flee.
Attorney Melisa McNeill said that Cruz also lost his phone in the massacre and didn’t buy new clothes so that he wouldn’t be recognised, even though he had more than $300 in cash.
Ms McNeil is seeking to raise doubts about the expert’s diagnosis that Cruz has antisocial personality disorder – not FASD.
Dr Scott explains Cruz’s various disorders
Monday 3 October 2022 21:04 , Megan Sheets
As cross-examination continues, Dr Scott has underlined differing scientific views of the disorders Cruz has, pointing out that experts frequently disagree.
He made that point as the defence drew attention back to its own psychiatric expert.
In regards to borderline personality disorder, he said that there could be a genetic component to it, but environmental factors are also believed to play a role.
Dr Scott was also asked about Cruz’s jail calls with Scarlett Lewis, the mother of a Sandy Hook shooting victim.
New witness: Former MSD student Kyle Horriban
Monday 3 October 2022 21:21 , Megan Sheets
The state’s next witness is Kyle Horriban, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
He testified about a photo he took of a student wearing a backpack with a racial slur and swastika drawn on it. Asked who the student was, Mr Horriban pointed to Cruz in court.
Mr Horriban said he didn’t speak to Cruz when he took the photo because he didn’t want to talk to someone “brave enough” to wear a backpack with that kind of “racial hate”.
“I was shocked that someone would wear that in public, especially at a school,” he said.
With that, the prosecution’s questioning of Mr Horriban concluded.
On cros-examination, Mr Horriban was simply asked if he was aware that Cruz has a Black brother. He replied in the negative.
New witness: Neuropsychologist Dr Robert Denney
Monday 3 October 2022 21:32 , Megan Sheets
The next witness for the prosecution is Dr Robert Denney, a clinical neuropsychologist based in Missouri.
Explaining his education and training, Dr Denney said he did his internship at a medical centre run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In that role, he counseled and evaluated inmates.
The prosecution appears to be paving the way for Dr Denney to share his evaluations of Cruz’s behaviour while in prison.
Dr Denney explains impact of ‘malingering'
Monday 3 October 2022 21:57 , Megan Sheets
Dr Denney testified that while he worked with inmates during his internship he saw cases of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD), which the defence contends impacted Cruz.
He said much of his work has focused around “malingering”, which occurs when a person is trying to minimise or exaggerate their true level of functioning.
Dr Denney explains that malingering negatively impacts the validity of test data, and part of his work is on reducing that impact.
What is antisocial personality disorder?
Tuesday 4 October 2022 00:00 , Rachel Sharp
In the rebuttal, prosecutors are seeking to challenge Nikolas Cruz’s defence that behavioural and psychological issues, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) led him to carry out the massacre.
Instead, they are arguing that he has antisocial personality disorder and so he planned his attack and has since shown no remorse for his actions.
Antisocial personality disorder is a mental disorder where the individual consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Often referred to as sociopathy, people with the disorder often break the law and engage in criminality, commit acts of violence, lie and abuse alcohol and drugs.
They show no guilt or remorse for their behaviour.
Early symptoms include behavioural problems such as aggression toward people and animals, stealing, destroying property and deceitfulness. Typically, adults with the disorder will have begun showing signs and symptoms of the disorder before the age of 15.
What are fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)?
Tuesday 4 October 2022 00:30 , Rachel Sharp
One of the key parts of the defence’s argument is that he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) caused by his biological mother abusing alcohol and drugs while pregnant.
FASDs are conditions caused by an individual being exposed to alcohol in the womb before birth.
According to the CDC, alcohol is passed from the mother’s blood to the baby via the umbilical cord.
It is surprisingly common, occurring in up to 1 in every 20 people, according to FASD United.
The effects of FASD can vary but typically include both physical problems and behavioural and learning problems.
Signs and symptoms include: learning disabilities, small head size, hyperactive behaviour, poor reasoning and judgment skills, difficulty in school and intellectual disability, among other things.
Biden calls for gun safety laws on anniversary of Vegas massacre
Tuesday 4 October 2022 03:00 , Rachel Sharp
President Joe Biden renewed his calls for tighter gun safety laws on Saturday – on what marked the fifth anniversary of the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.
On 1 October 2017, 60 people were murdered and hundreds more wounded while they were attending a country music festival.
It remains the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
“Jill and I mourn with all those who lost a piece of their soul on October 1st, 2017,” the president said in a statement.
“May God bless those taken from us and comfort the loved ones of the fallen. And may we resolve to turn our heartbreak into action.
“From the Nevada desert, we heard the same cry that we’ve heard in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, Charleston, Parkland, Uvalde, Buffalo, and too many neighborhoods to count: Do something,” Biden added. “And, my Administration has been working tirelessly to heed that call.”
ICYMI: Nikolas Cruz acts out how he skinned lizards alive aged four in chilling video shown at Parkland trial
Tuesday 4 October 2022 08:30 , Rachel Sharp
Chilling video footage shows Nikolas Cruz acting out how he skinned lizards alive from the age of four during an interview with a forensic psychiatrist earlier this year.
The video clip, played in Cruz’s sentencing trial on Tuesday, shows the mass murderer nonchalantly describing his first memories of torturing and killing animals to Dr Charles Scott.
Dr Charles Scott, the prosecutor’s rebuttal witness, interviewed Cruz over three full days in March 2022 as part of his extensive psychiatric evaluation of the Parkland gunman.
In one interview on 2 March, Dr Scott asked Cruz when he recalled first hurting animals.
“I broke a lizards back with a rock,” Cruz quickly replied in the video clip, adding that he believes he was around three years old at the time.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Video shows Nikolas Cruz acting out how he skinned lizards alive aged four
ICYMI: Jurors see harrowing videos Cruz made before attack
Tuesday 4 October 2022 09:30 , Rachel Sharp
Jurors were shown harrowing videos Cruz made in the days before the mass shooting, where he described his plans to kill 20 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In one of the videos, Cruz is off camera and is heard saying: “Today is the day... all of the kids in school will run in fear and hide... I am nothing, I am no one, my life is nothing.”
“With the power of my AR you will know who I am,” he says.
He calmly describes his plan to get an Uber to the school and then carry out the massacre.
In one of the videos, he faces the camera and calmly details the key plans for the attack, laughing about murdering people.
“My name is Nik,” he says at the start.
Once he arrives at the school, he casually says “then I shoot people down at the main courtyrard... and then people will die.’
“My goal is 20 people, my location is Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida. It’s going to be a big event,” he says.
“When you see me on the news you’ll all know who I am,” Cruz says, breaking into a smile and laugh.
“You’re all going to die,” he says, before making a shooting sound to the camera.
Dr Scott testified that Cruz is “calm, organised, speaking slowly” in the videos which were made days before the shooting.
Uvalde families stage sit-in in Texas
Tuesday 4 October 2022 10:30 , Rachel Sharp
Families whose loved ones were murdered in the 24 May mass shooting in Uvalde are staging a sit-in outside the school district administrative office in Uvalde, Texas, in protest over the inaction since the massacre.
On May 24, 19 young children and two teachers were murdered in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Over the last week, Brett Cross, the father of one of the victims Uziyah Garcia, and other family members have been camping outside the school district’s office calling for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police officers who responded to the scene that day to be suspended.
Nearly 400 officers were on the scene of the mass shooting and failed to stop the gunman for 77 minutes.
146 hr update: Admin building is back at work. Still no word from Hal Harrell.
— Brett Cross (@BCross052422) October 3, 2022
Nikolas Cruz’s chilling reason for ending Parkland shooting as he says he targeted victims over ‘nasty look’
Tuesday 4 October 2022 12:30 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz has revealed that the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School only came to an end because he “couldn’t find anyone to kill” as he claimed that he “showed mercy” to some of his victims.
Disturbing video footage was played in Broward County Court on Monday, showing the 24-year-old mass murderer’s interviews with forensic psychiatrist Dr Charles Scott in March 2022.
In the footage, Cruz is seen calmly detailing how he murdered 17 students and staff at the high school as well as his detailed preparations in the lead-up to the Valentine’s Day 2018 attack.
Cruz claimed that he “showed mercy” to two of his victims – before slaughtering them with his assault rifle because they gave him a “nasty look”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz’s chilling reason for ending Parkland shooting
ICYMI: Jurors shown Cruz’s backpack with racial slur
Tuesday 4 October 2022 13:19 , Rachel Sharp
During Monday’s court session, jurors were shown a backpack Nikolas Cruz wore to school, emblazoned with a racial slur and Nazi symbol.
Kyle Horrigan, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, testified on Monday that he noticed Cruz walking around the school campus wearing the orange backpack with the offensive images back in September 2016.
At the time, Cruz was also a student at the school.
Jurors were shown a photograph that Mr Horrigan took of the bag, showing a swastika scrawled across it and the racist phrase: “F*** you n****.”
“I was personally shocked by it, that someone would walk around in public with that, much less at a school,” Mr Horrigan told the court.
Clinical neuropsychologist to return to stand
Tuesday 4 October 2022 13:50 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Robert Denney, a clinical neuropsychologist based in Missouri, is expected to return to the stand on Tuesday morning.
The expert was called by the prosecution as a rebuttal witness on Monday afternoon, where he detailed his experience evaluating prison inmates and of seeing cases of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) – something that Cruz’s defence has argued contributed to him carrying out his murderous rampage.
Dr Denny began explaining to jurors the definition of “malingering”, where an individual fakes or exaggerates their symptoms or true level of functioning.
He specialises in the topic with his work involving reducing the impact malingering can have on experts being able to effectively evaluate patients.
Judge hears motions about rebuttal evidence
Tuesday 4 October 2022 14:06 , Rachel Sharp
Before the jury enters the courtroom, Judge Elizabeth Scherer is hearing motions about the admissibility of rebuttal evidence.
The defence is objecting to some of the charts compiled based on Cruz’s test scores, which neuropsychologist Dr Denney is expected to produce on the witness stand.
Family members warned about graphic footage
Tuesday 4 October 2022 15:09 , Rachel Sharp
Family members of the Parkland victims were pre-warned on Tuesday that graphic footage and audio is likely to be played in court today.
Prosecutors said the “sound of shots” and “video of students hiding” would be shown in court. Some of the clips will only be shown to the jury and not to the wider court.
The state said that they had told the victims’ families so that they could decide whether or not to be present.
Cruz was ‘healthy baby’, says expert
Tuesday 4 October 2022 15:47 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz was healthy at birth, testified clinical neuropsychologist Dr Robert Denney.
The expert said that, while alcohol can impact a fetus in the womb, Cruz’s birth records indicate that “he came out perfectly normal”.
“Alcohol can affect the developing brain. There’s no doubt about that. It doesn’t always... but it can. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Dr Denney pointed to the Apgar scoring where a baby is scored within the first few minutes of its life based on: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity and Respiration.
He said that each category is scored from 0 to 2 with 2 being the best score. Dr Denney said that Cruz scored 2 in most of the five categories.
The score card shows that he was scored at 8 minutes and then 9 minutes – but because he had improved between the two minutes there was no need to score him again at 10 minutes and that part of the card was left blank.
“Based on these scores Mr Cruz was a healthy baby when he was born,” said Dr Denney.
Cruz’s other birth records also show there was nothing unusual with his birth.
He was born by C-section and records indicate he was resuscitated. But, the records show Cruz was then transferred to the newborn nursery.
Mr Denney said “that’s the place babies want to go... you don’t want to go to neonatal intensive care” and they would if they needed more care.
“Other than the fact it was a C-section, it was a normal process,” he said of Cruz’s birth, adding that it was “not abnormal or problematic”.
“He was a healthy little baby,” he said.
Neuropsychologist says Cruz was ‘playing games’ in evaluation
Tuesday 4 October 2022 16:07 , Rachel Sharp
Clinical neuropsychologist Dr Denney testified that Cruz was “playing games” with him during his evaluation of the mass shooter.
“My conclusion from this test is that he technically passed it from the software scoring rules but when you look at what he did with free recall he was clearly playing with me,” he told the court.
“This is not what you see with real memory impairment. This is what you see when someone is playing games with you.”
He added that it was “technically a pass [but] it shows that he is playing games with my testing”.
Dr Denney visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March 2022 and evaluated him in the presence of Cruz’s attorney.
He said that one of the tests showed Cruz gave an “abnormal” response saying that the shooter scored around “100 percent for all the easy things” and then had “free recall worse than severe dementia patients”.
“He was able to remember the wrong words... so it proves that he could remember those if he chose to do so,” he said.
“This ain’t right,” said the expert. “It’s abnormal as it shouldn’t be happening.”
Expert says Cruz was ‘trying to look more impaired’ than he is
Tuesday 4 October 2022 16:27 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney testified that Nikolas Cruz was “trying to look more impaired” than he is during his evaluation.
“In plain words was the defendant faking?” asked the prosecutor.
Dr Denney responded saying: “In plain word he was not trying to do good on the testing…
“Based on my clinical judgement, it’s because I think he was trying to look more impaired than he is.”
His testimony comes after another rebuttal witness – Dr Charles Scott – also testified this own evaluation found Cruz was malingering.
Malingering is where an individual fakes or exaggerates a condition or illness in order to receive some sort of benefit.
Cruz ‘grossly exaggerating severe mental illness'
Tuesday 4 October 2022 16:50 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz was “grossly exaggerating” his symptoms of mental illness during his evaluation with prosecution witness Dr Denney, the neuropsychologist told jurors.
“He is grossly exaggerating severe mental illness,” he said.
Dr Denney said that if someone had psychiatric conditions on the level that Cruz was displaying in his test answers, it would be instantly noticeable on meeting him.
“Even somebody who is severely psychotic would not endorse that high but they would also be able to endorse a consistent profile,” Dr Denney said of one of the tests.
“[He was] grossly exaggerating severe psychiatric problems as well as semantic concerns, body concerns, cognitive concerns and memory complaints.”
The neuropsychologist told jurors that the level of impairment which Cruz showed in his test results were so severe he would not be able to even take the test if it was true.
“This is the most extreme impairment in attention deficit seen in the history of the world. That’s the level of impairment here,” he said.
“If his attention problems were as bad as this he simply wouldn’t be able to take the test”.
Cruz’s jailhouse drawings contradict test scores
Tuesday 4 October 2022 17:16 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz’s jailhouse drawings contradict the scores of the tests he underwent with psychological experts, according to Dr Denney.
Jurors were shown drawings Cruz made while in prison awaiting trial, depicting a gunman with a firearm shooting victims.
Dr Denney told the court that looking at the drawings shows Cruz’s level of visual-spatial skills.
He pointed out that the firearm was “proportionate” in the drawing and is “not consistent with poor visual-spatial skills”.
Cruz scored poorly on visual-spatial skills in his tests with Dr Denney, he said – findings that don’t add up.
“If he was as bad as the tests, he should not be able to draw anythinng in a 2D or 3D way,” said Dr Denney.
Expert says Cruz has antisocial personality disorder
Tuesday 4 October 2022 17:36 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney said that, based on his neurological testing, Cruz has borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Antisocial personality disorder is a mental disorder where the individual consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Often referred to as sociopathy, people with the disorder often break the law and engage in criminality, commit acts of violence, lie and abuse alcohol and drugs. They show no guilt or remorse for their behaviour.
This is the same diagnosis that Dr Scott previously gave.
Prosecution witness casts doubt on defence data
Tuesday 4 October 2022 18:01 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney, who is a rebuttal witness for the prosecution, cast doubts on the reliability of data presented by defence witnesses.
Two experts testified during the defence’s case that Cruz has a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
On Tuesday, Dr Denney picked apart the argument – showing jurors graphics which indicated that the defence was selective about which data was shown in court to support its argument.
Parkland school principal facing charges after taking guns to school
Tuesday 4 October 2022 18:45 , Rachel Sharp
A principal in Parkland, Florida, is facing criminal charges after she allegedly brought two guns to her charter school.
Geyler Herrera-Castro, 39, is charged with two counts of possession of a weapon on school property and one count of crimes against a person – culpable negligence, exposure to harm, reported South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
On 2 June, other school staff members found the guns in a small, soft zippered pouch with handles, along with two loaded magazines, on the campus of Somerset Parkland Academy K-8, investigators said.
Police said that the principal Ms Herrera-Castro told officers one of the guns was hers and the other her father’s. She allegedly claimed she had left them in her car and another staff member may have brought them inside when helping unload her car.
But, according to a criminal complaint, surveillance footage only captured the principal entering or exiting her vehicle with items.
Police said that there is probable cause to believe that she “routinely and willingly” brought the guns to the school.
What is malingering?
Tuesday 4 October 2022 19:05 , Rachel Sharp
Malingering is where an individual fakes or exaggerates a condition or illness in order to receive some sort of benefit.
It is an act, not a condition, and the feigned illness can be mental or physical, according to WebMD.
It was first used to describe soldiers who feigned conditions in an effort to try to avoid military service in the 1900s.
Now, malingering is carried out for many reasons including to avoid legal action or to get attention.
Malingering is different to factitious disorder, because while both involve feigning an illness – the latter is considered a mental illness where the individual does not do it intentionally.
The challenge with malingering is that it is difficult to determine.
Cruz ‘did great’ on executive function test
Tuesday 4 October 2022 20:04 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney continued to go through the findings of neurological testing carried out on Cruz.
The expert said that the gunman “did great” on one task that tested his executive functioning – cognitive processes that allow people to plan, focus their attention, make decisions and multitask.
“He did great on this task, and this is a sophisticated measure that when a person scores like this, it indicates that they’re performing at a decision-making level that’s higher than what you expect to see in neurologically-impaired people... It’s inconsistent with neurological impairment,” he testified.
His testimony contradicts the defence, which argued that Cruz’s “brain was broken”.
Expert says tests indicate Cruz does not have ‘neurocognitive problems'
Tuesday 4 October 2022 20:42 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney testified that his evaluation of Nikolas Cruz indicated that he does not have “neurocognitive problems”.
The expert also cast doubt on the argument that Cruz’s low IQ is a sign of impairment.
“IQ scores aren’t necessarily indicative of brain impairment,” he said.
“It’s just person’s overall level of functioning & you expect the neuropsychological test battery scores to fall in a pile around that general ability level.”
Cruz has an IQ of 83, which does fall within the low average range. However, 14 percent of “perfectly normal people” have IQs in that range, said Dr Denney.
Court sees footage of terrified students as gunshots ring out
Tuesday 4 October 2022 21:05 , Rachel Sharp
The court was shown footage of terrified students hiding inside a classroom in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as gunshots rang out.
The clip shows students crouched on the ground in the school during the Valentine’s Day 2018 mass shooting.
Multiple shots are heard being fired in rapid succession, as chilling screams ring out.
A number of other videos were also shown to jurors – but were not shown to the public.
Dr Denney testified about the footage – which he said once again contradicted Cruz’s test scores and indicated he has been faking his conditions.
The expert said that the “rapidity” of the gunshots one after the next does not fit with someone who has “slow finger tapping performance”.
One of the videos – not shared with the public – shows Cruz moving through the school firing shots.
Dr Denney said that it shows Cruz “swung round the doorway” and pulled the trigger with “two rapid shots” – moving seamlessly.
He said that it shows someone with “motor control and balance”.
“That fluidity in a real life situation does not match a test score,” he saod.
“There’s absolutely no way that finger tapping score is valid.”
Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and cognitive issues: ‘He was clearly playing games’
Tuesday 4 October 2022 22:20 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz has been faking the extent of his mental illness and cognitive issues and was “clearly playing games” during evaluations with experts, according to a renowned clinical psychologist.
Dr Robert Denney took the witness stand on Tuesday morning in the sentencing trial for the 24-year-old mass murderer, where jurors will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or to death for the murders of 17 people on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Dr Denney, who is one of just seven people in the world with board certifications in both forensic psychology and clinical neuropsychology, visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
He testified that Cruz cheated during the tests and was “grossly exaggerating” symptoms of mental illness, poor memory and other health concerns.
“He is grossly exaggerating severe mental illness,” he said, adding that “[he was] grossly exaggerating severe psychiatric problems as well as semantic concerns, body concerns, cognitive concerns and memory complaints”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and ‘was playing games’ with expert
RECAP: What happened on Monday?
Tuesday 4 October 2022 22:50 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution resumed its rebuttal case on Monday, after the trial was postponed last week due to Hurricane Ian.
Cruz thought about carrying out a mass shooting for many years and “studied” the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres in preparation for his own, he told forensic psychiatrist Dr Charles Scott in jailhouse interviews played in court. Cruz said that he first started thinking about mass shootings from the age of 13 or 14 then conducted “research” into several other mass shootings leading up to Valentine’s Day 2018. “I did my own research. I looked up on Wikipedia, I studied mass murderers and how they did it,” he said nonchalantly. “Their plan and what they got and what they used.”
Dr Scott diagnosed Cruz with antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, a history of conduct disorder and malingering – refuting the defence’s FASD argument. He testified that Cruz planned the attack, his ability to make decisions and his memory of the shooting showed that he has adequate executive functioning – the mental processes that enable people to plan and control his behaviour when he wants. “This was not a spur of the moment decision. This had been planned out for months,” said Dr Scott.
Cruz told Dr Scott that the mass shooting only came to an end because he “couldn’t find” any more victims. “I couldn’t find anyone to kill,” he said. Cruz claimed that he “showed mercy” to two of his victims – before slaughtering them with his assault rifle because they gave him a “nasty look”. He also spoke matter of factly about his gruesome slayings, nonchalantly telling Dr Scott how he watched the head of one victim “blew up like a water balloon”.
Jurors were shown videos Cruz made in the days before the massacre, where he spoke of his plans. “With the power of my AR you will know who I am,” he says in one video. “My goal is 20 people, my location is Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida. It’s going to be a big event.”
RECAP: What happened on Tuesday?
Tuesday 4 October 2022 23:30 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution continued with its rebuttal case, with Dr Robert Denney, a clinical neuropsychologist, returning to the witness stand. Dr Denney carried out neurological tests on Cruz on 9 and 10 March 2022 in Broward County Jail as part of his evaluation of the shooter.
Dr Denney testified that birth records show that Cruz was a “healthy baby” who “came out perfectly normal”. “Other than the fact it was a C-section, it was a normal process,” he said of Cruz’s birth – refuting the defence’s argument.
Dr Denney testified that Cruz was faking symptoms and was “grossly exaggerating severe mental illness” during his evaluation of him. The expert extensively ran through the shooter’s test scores and how they don’t add up. “This is what you see when someone is playing games with you,” he said. In memory tests, Cruz scored around “100 percent for all the easy things” and then had “free recall worse than severe dementia patients”, he said. “He was able to remember the wrong words... so it proves that he could remember those if he chose to do so,” he said.
Jurors were also shown graphic footage from the massacre as further evidence that Cruz’s test scores do not appear to match his actions. One clip showed terrified students hiding on the floor inside a classroom in Marjory Stoneman as multiple shots are heard being fired in rapid succession and chilling screams ring out.
Dr Denney said the footage contradicted Cruz’s finger tapping test scores because it showed the “rapidity” of the gunshots being fired in quick succession.
Based on his neurological testing, Dr Denney concluded that Cruz has borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Nikolas Cruz had a horror start to life but does it matter in trial?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 00:00 , Rachel Sharp
It began before he was even born: Nikolas Cruz’s biological mother drank alcohol and abused drugs while he was still in the womb.
At the age of five, his adoptive father suddenly collapsed and died in front of him in the family home. In his teenage years, he was allegedly bullied by his brother and sexually abused by a so-called “trusted peer”. At 19, he became an orphan when his adoptive mother died from pneumonia.
And just three months later, he murdered 17 innocent students and staff in a shooting rampage at his former high school.
“Without any one of those problems, it may never have happened,” Abigail Marsh, professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown University, tells The Independent.
“For any given person there is a causal explanation, a link… and, on average, people who become mass shooters or are very violent have had these experiences or risk factors. There’s no one thing that you can say that is the reason but, together, a perfect storm of risk factors can give the means, motive and opportunity.”
These so-called risk factors have all come into focus in recent weeks as Cruz’s team of public defenders tries to convince a jury of his peers that his life should be spared.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp details what jurors have learned about Cruz’s start in life and speaks to a psychologist and criminal defence attorney about what impact this truly had on him committing his crime and whether or not it will make any difference in the eyes of the jury:
Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz may have had a horror start to life but does it matter?
Witnesses jurors won’t hear from
Wednesday 5 October 2022 01:30 , Rachel Sharp
In a move that caught the entire courtroom off guard earlier this month, Nikolas Cruz’s defence team announced it was resting its case in his sentencing trial.
The 23-year-old mass murderer’s legal team previously said it planned to call around 80 witnesses to the stand as they try to convince jurors to sentence him to life in prison instead of to death.
But, at the start of the court session on 14 September, Cruz’s lead attorney Melisa McNeill suddenly revealed that the defence was resting – after calling only around 25 witnesses.
While the bombshell announcement instantly plunged the courtroom into chaos, it also meant jurors would no longer hear from several widely-anticipated witnesses.
Here are some of the key witnesses who had been expected to testify:
Nikolas Cruz trial: Key witnesses jurors won’t hear from after defence rested case
Nikolas Cruz’s chilling reason for ending Parkland shooting as he says he targeted victims over ‘nasty look’
Wednesday 5 October 2022 02:30 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz has revealed that the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School only came to an end because he “couldn’t find anyone to kill” as he claimed that he “showed mercy” to some of his victims.
Disturbing video footage was played in Broward County Court on Monday, showing the 24-year-old mass murderer’s interviews with forensic psychiatrist Dr Charles Scott in March 2022.
In the footage, Cruz is seen calmly detailing how he murdered 17 students and staff at the high school as well as his detailed preparations in the lead-up to the Valentine’s Day 2018 attack.
Cruz claimed that he “showed mercy” to two of his victims – before slaughtering them with his assault rifle because they gave him a “nasty look”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz’s chilling reason for ending Parkland shooting
Timeline of the Parkland massacre
Wednesday 5 October 2022 04:00 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz, the man convicted of shooting dead 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, is now facing a sentencing trial for his crimes.
Cruz – a former student at the institution who was a member of its air rifle team and had a lengthy disciplinary record – was just 19 when he arrived that day in an Uber bearing a legally-purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and gunned down 14 students and three members of staff in what proved to be one of the deadliest school massacres in American history.
He was arrested later that day by police and pleaded guilty to 17 charges of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted murder, his actions sparking a nationwide protest movement demanding tighter gun control measures and an unsavoury political debate in which survivors of the attack including David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez were accused of being paid “crisis actors” by conspiracy-minded members of the right-wing commentariat.
Here’s a timeline of the massacre:
A timeline of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Remembering the victims of Parkland
Wednesday 5 October 2022 06:00 , Rachel Sharp
Seventeen students and staff members were murdered in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
The 14 students killed were: Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup and Peter Wang.
The three adults killed were: Scott Beigel, Chris Hixon and Aaron Feis.
Debbi Hixon, who should have recently celebrated her 32nd wedding anniversary with her husband Chris, told The Independent ahead of the start of the trial that the trial is a way for people to hear the stories of each of the people who were killed that day.
“People say the 17 parents and the 17 students [when they talk about Parkland],” she said.
“People don’t know the story of each individual who was lost and, for us who lost them, that’s the story. And it’s frustrating that it isn’t about those who were lost.”
She adds: “All the 14 beautiful children and three adults that were lost. They all have their own story.”
Here are their stories:
Parkland victim’s widow speaks out as victims remembered
What is malingering?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 08:00 , Rachel Sharp
Malingering is where an individual fakes or exaggerates a condition or illness in order to receive some sort of benefit.
It is an act, not a condition, and the feigned illness can be mental or physical, according to WebMD.
It was first used to describe soldiers who feigned conditions in an effort to try to avoid military service in the 1900s.
Now, malingering is carried out for many reasons including to avoid legal action or to get attention.
Malingering is different to factitious disorder, because while both involve feigning an illness – the latter is considered a mental illness where the individual does not do it intentionally.
The challenge with malingering is that it is difficult to determine.
What are fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 09:00 , Rachel Sharp
One of the key parts of the defence’s argument is that he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) caused by his biological mother abusing alcohol and drugs while pregnant.
FASDs are conditions caused by an individual being exposed to alcohol in the womb before birth.
According to the CDC, alcohol is passed from the mother’s blood to the baby via the umbilical cord.
It is surprisingly common, occurring in up to 1 in every 20 people, according to FASD United.
The effects of FASD can vary but typically include both physical problems and behavioural and learning problems.
Signs and symptoms include: learning disabilities, small head size, hyperactive behaviour, poor reasoning and judgment skills, difficulty in school and intellectual disability, among other things.
What is antisocial personality disorder?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 10:00 , Rachel Sharp
In the rebuttal, prosecutors are seeking to challenge Nikolas Cruz’s defence that behavioural and psychological issues, including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) led him to carry out the massacre.
Instead, they are arguing that he has antisocial personality disorder and so he planned his attack and has since shown no remorse for his actions.
Antisocial personality disorder is a mental disorder where the individual consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Often referred to as sociopathy, people with the disorder often break the law and engage in criminality, commit acts of violence, lie and abuse alcohol and drugs.
They show no guilt or remorse for their behaviour.
Early symptoms include behavioural problems such as aggression toward people and animals, stealing, destroying property and deceitfulness. Typically, adults with the disorder will have begun showing signs and symptoms of the disorder before the age of 15.
RECAP: What happened on Monday?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 11:00 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution resumed its rebuttal case on Monday, after the trial was postponed last week due to Hurricane Ian.
Cruz thought about carrying out a mass shooting for many years and “studied” the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres in preparation for his own, he told forensic psychiatrist Dr Charles Scott in jailhouse interviews played in court. Cruz said that he first started thinking about mass shootings from the age of 13 or 14 then conducted “research” into several other mass shootings leading up to Valentine’s Day 2018. “I did my own research. I looked up on Wikipedia, I studied mass murderers and how they did it,” he said nonchalantly. “Their plan and what they got and what they used.”
Dr Scott diagnosed Cruz with antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, a history of conduct disorder and malingering – refuting the defence’s FASD argument. He testified that Cruz planned the attack, his ability to make decisions and his memory of the shooting showed that he has adequate executive functioning – the mental processes that enable people to plan and control his behaviour when he wants. “This was not a spur of the moment decision. This had been planned out for months,” said Dr Scott.
Cruz told Dr Scott that the mass shooting only came to an end because he “couldn’t find” any more victims. “I couldn’t find anyone to kill,” he said. Cruz claimed that he “showed mercy” to two of his victims – before slaughtering them with his assault rifle because they gave him a “nasty look”. He also spoke matter of factly about his gruesome slayings, nonchalantly telling Dr Scott how he watched the head of one victim “blew up like a water balloon”.
Jurors were shown videos Cruz made in the days before the massacre, where he spoke of his plans. “With the power of my AR you will know who I am,” he says in one video. “My goal is 20 people, my location is Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida. It’s going to be a big event.”
RECAP: What happened on Tuesday?
Wednesday 5 October 2022 12:00 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution continued with its rebuttal case, with Dr Robert Denney, a clinical neuropsychologist, returning to the witness stand. Dr Denney carried out neurological tests on Cruz on 9 and 10 March 2022 in Broward County Jail as part of his evaluation of the shooter.
Dr Denney testified that birth records show that Cruz was a “healthy baby” who “came out perfectly normal”. “Other than the fact it was a C-section, it was a normal process,” he said of Cruz’s birth – refuting the defence’s argument.
Dr Denney testified that Cruz was faking symptoms and was “grossly exaggerating severe mental illness” during his evaluation of him. The expert extensively ran through the shooter’s test scores and how they don’t add up. “This is what you see when someone is playing games with you,” he said. In memory tests, Cruz scored around “100 percent for all the easy things” and then had “free recall worse than severe dementia patients”, he said. “He was able to remember the wrong words... so it proves that he could remember those if he chose to do so,” he said.
Jurors were also shown graphic footage from the massacre as further evidence that Cruz’s test scores do not appear to match his actions. One clip showed terrified students hiding on the floor inside a classroom in Marjory Stoneman as multiple shots are heard being fired in rapid succession and chilling screams ring out.
Dr Denney said the footage contradicted Cruz’s finger tapping test scores because it showed the “rapidity” of the gunshots being fired in quick succession.
Based on his neurological testing, Dr Denney concluded that Cruz has borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and cognitive issues: ‘He was clearly playing games’
Wednesday 5 October 2022 13:00 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz has been faking the extent of his mental illness and cognitive issues and was “clearly playing games” during evaluations with experts, according to a renowned clinical psychologist.
Dr Robert Denney took the witness stand on Tuesday morning in the sentencing trial for the 24-year-old mass murderer, where jurors will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or to death for the murders of 17 people on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Dr Denney, who is one of just seven people in the world with board certifications in both forensic psychology and clinical neuropsychology, visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
He testified that Cruz cheated during the tests and was “grossly exaggerating” symptoms of mental illness, poor memory and other health concerns.
“He is grossly exaggerating severe mental illness,” he said, adding that “[he was] grossly exaggerating severe psychiatric problems as well as semantic concerns, body concerns, cognitive concerns and memory complaints”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and ‘was playing games’ with expert
What we’ve learned so far in the trial:
Wednesday 5 October 2022 14:00 , Rachel Sharp
On Valentine’s Day 2018, Cruz traveled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
There, the then-19-year-old stalked all three floors of the freshman building, shooting and killing 17 students and staff members.
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Now, the jury will decide whether to hand him the death penalty or to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far in the trial:
Nikolas Cruz’s sentencing trial: What we’ve learned so far
Trial set to resume
Thursday 6 October 2022 13:36 , Rachel Sharp
The sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz will resume from 9am ET on Thursday.
The trial was postponed on Wednesday because the court was closed for the day.
It marked just the latest delay in proceedings in the trial, which was called off the week before due to Hurricane Ian.
Two men arrested on felony charges of exploiting shooter’s brother
Thursday 6 October 2022 14:17 , Rachel Sharp
The two men who took Nikolas Cruz’s brother under their wing in the wake of the Parkland massacre have been arrested for exploiting him.
Mike Donovan and Richard Moore, both 45, were arrested at their home in Virginia on Wednesday and charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretences.
They were released on $50,000 bond each later that day.
The couple, who cofounded bond servicing company Nexus, took Zachary Cruz, 22, under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Zachary and Cruz, who shared the same biological mother and adoptive parents, had been left orphaned when their adoptive mother Lynda Cruz died in November 2017.
The pair had never met Cruz or Zachary prior to the mass shooting but reached out to the then-teenager when he was arrested for trespassing on the site of the massacre.
Zachary, who turned 18 just one week after his brother carried out one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, moved from Florida to live with the couple and their son in Virginia.
Mr Donovan denied the couple had exploited Zachary and instead said they had fallen foul to “corrupt cops”.
“I want to point that out that first of all, I didn’t exploit Zach, and secondly, Zach isn’t mentally incapacitated,” he told the Sun-Sentinel.
Dr Denney returns to the stand
Thursday 6 October 2022 14:40 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Robert Denney has returned to the witness stand.
The clinical neuropsychologist, one of just seven people in the world with board certifications in both forensic psychology and clinical neuropsychology, visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
He testified on Tuesday that Cruz cheated during the tests and was “grossly exaggerating” symptoms of mental illness, poor memory and other health concerns.
Expert says Cruz does not have FASD
Thursday 6 October 2022 15:04 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney testified that his diagnosis is that Nikolas Cruz does not have a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
He said that Cruz “doesn’t have severe impairments” he would expect to see from someone with FASD.
The neuropsycholohgist’s diagnosis was:
- No neurocognitive disorder
- No fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
- Malingering
- Antisocial personality disorder
- Borderline personality
The expert said that Cruz has a “callous lack of empathy and lack of remorse”.
Jailhouse interview shows Cruz speaking about animal abuse
Thursday 6 October 2022 15:24 , Rachel Sharp
Jurors were shown a video clip from a jailhouse interview of Nikolas Cruz and Dr Denney.
The clinical neuropsychologist visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
In the footage, Cruz tells the neuropsychologist how he abused animals as a child.
MOMENTS AGO: Jailhouse video played in court. #NikolasCruz admits to animal abuse, what he did before he was 15. https://t.co/4oD4mr9TaV pic.twitter.com/gsoctaHtLr
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) October 6, 2022
Expert says Cruz ‘doesn’t care’ about other people
Thursday 6 October 2022 15:59 , Rachel Sharp
Dr Denney testified that Nikolas Cruz “doesn’t care” about other people or their rights.
The clinical neuropsychologist visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
He diagnosed the shooter with antisocial personality disorder, saying his findings are different to him having a mental disorder.
“A big difference between a mental disease or defect and a personality disorder,” he says.
People with disorders “can control it if they want to, if it serves... They care about themselves but they don’t care about the rights of other people.”
Parkland shooter claims he was sexually abused by neighbour
Thursday 6 October 2022 17:52 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz claimed that he was sexually abused by a male neighbour when he was nine years old, jurors learned on Thursday.
Under cross-examination, Cruz’s attorney asked Dr Denney about what the mass shooter had told him about the alleged abuse.
Attorney David Wheeler said that, when Cruz was nine, a family moved in next door to his.
The boy in that family began performing “sexual acts” with Cruz when he went over to play Xbox with him, Mr Wheeler said.
“[Cruz] would go over to play videogames and someone in that family would have him do things in order to play on the Xbox,” he said.
Mr Wheeler said that Cruz claimed that one time the boy allegedly took him into a bathroom and “asked him if he wanted to try something new”.
The neighbour then took out his penis, put on a condom and penetrated Cruz, the shooter has claimed.
Dr Denney confirmed that Cruz had told him about the abuse but said he didn’t recall all of the details of his claims.
The defence pointed out that Cruz told Dr Denney that the boy and his mother later came to live with the Cruz family in their home.
Cruz claimed he stole some money from the boy “to get back at him”, the attorney said.
He told the expert that he was hesitant about coming forward over the sexual assault, because he “didn’t want people to think this boy was a sexual predator,” said Mr Wheeler.
However, clinical psychologist Dr Denney seemed to cast doubts on the allegations by saying that Cruz told him “some recollections which he said were recollections”.
“He wasn’t aware of it until after he was arrested,” he said.
The alleged abuser was not named in the testimony and his age was not revealed.
Court on lunchtime recess
Thursday 6 October 2022 18:17 , Rachel Sharp
Trial will resume at 2pm ET.
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
Thursday 6 October 2022 18:40 , Rachel Sharp
The two men who took Nikolas Cruz’s brother under their wing in the wake of the Parkland massacre have been arrested for allegedly exploiting him – just as the mass shooter’s sentencing trial is drawing to a close.
Mike Donovan and Richard Moore, both 45, were arrested at their home in Virginia on Wednesday and charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretences.
They were each released on $50,000 bond later that day.
The couple, who cofounded bond servicing company Nexus, took Zachary Cruz, 22, under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Zachary and Cruz, who shared the same biological mother Brenda Woodard and were adopted and raised together by Lynda and Roger Cruz, had been left orphaned in November 2017 when their adoptive mother died.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
Who are Richard Moore and Mike Donovan?
Thursday 6 October 2022 19:05 , Rachel Sharp
Richard Moore and his husband Mike Donovan both took Zachary Cruz under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members in the Parkland massacre.
The couple, both 45, are cofounders of bond servicing company Nexus.
They had never met Zachary or Nikolas Cruz prior to the 2018 mass shooting but reached out to Zachary following his trespassing arrest.
Zachary moved from Florida to live with the couple and their son in their family home in Virginia.
Mr Moore has attended some of Cruz’s trial and was seen at the courthouse when the defence began presenting its case.
He previously said that he doesn’t approve of what Cruz did but believes “nobody should face this alone”.
Mr Moore’s name has cropped up during the trial, with prosecutors saying that he had sent thousands of dollars of commissary to Cruz in prison “this year alone” and speaks regularly to the mass shooter through jailhouse phone calls.
On 5 October, Mr Moore and Mr Donovan were both arrested on felony charges of exploiting Zachary. They were charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretenses and released on $50,000 bond.
Defence tries to undermine expert’s credibility
Thursday 6 October 2022 19:40 , Rachel Sharp
The defence is continuing its cross-examination of Dr Denney, attempting to undermine the expert’s credibility.
Attorney David Wheeler asked the psychologist about the fact that two federal courts had found him lacking in credibility since 2016 “for not complying with criminal standards in cases”.
Dr Denney admitted this was true. He also acknowledged that he does not specialise in FASD and has not released any research on FASD.
Court takes another recess
Thursday 6 October 2022 19:50 , Rachel Sharp
The defence has ended its cross-examination of Dr Denney.
Prosecutors were about to return to questioning of their rebuttal witness, when the legal teams went to a sidebar.
The judge called a break so that she could hear arguments.
Video of Cruz speaking about alleged sexual abuse
Thursday 6 October 2022 20:13 , Rachel Sharp
While jurors are out of the courtroom, the judge and legal teams watched footage of Nikolas Cruz speaking about the alleged sexual abuse that he claims he suffered at the hands of a neighbour.
Cruz told Dr Denney and Dr Scott, expert witnesses for the prosecution, that he was “sexually molested” by the older son of his mother’s friend.
In the video clip, Dr Scott asked Cruz if anyone abused him physically.
“I don’t like putting out people like this but I think I might have been sexually abused by a neighbourhood boy,” he said.
Cruz told the psychologist that he and his brother would go to the home when they were young and that the boy told him he would let him play on his Xbox if they “do things”.
He said the boy got him to “suck his d***” around six or seven times and also had anal sex with him one time.
The shooter said he was around 75 percent sure the abuse happened but wasn’t certain – claiming that his mother told him it didn’t happen.
“I’m not too sure that’s why I don’t want to put him out like that,” he said.
“My memory I think it did happen but I don’t want to make him a sexual predator or anything like that.”
He added: “I have memories that things did happen but my mom told me that nothing happened but I heard some news that things did happen.”
Cruz claims abuser also targeted his brother
Thursday 6 October 2022 20:30 , Rachel Sharp
In the video clips, Cruz claimed that his brother Zachary Cruz also recalls being abused by the older neighbour.
In his interview with Dr Denney, he said his brother “has memories of it too”.
“Yeh I have memories of it. But I don’t want to like put it out that he’s a sexual molesterer as I don’t know if it really is true or not,” he said.
“But my brother said he has memories of it too that it happened to him as well.”
Cruz repeatedly yawns as he tells the psychologist about the abuse.
He tells Dr Denney his attorneys are the first people he told about the abuse.
He told Dr Scott that he had told his mother about the abuse when he was young and he believes that she told his alleged abuser’s mother. The boy was then sent away to Canada, he said.
Prosecutors are asking to show jurors the videos.
MOMENTS AGO: Jurors out of court while lawyers discuss possible sexual molestation. **GRAPHIC** Jailhouse interview played in which #NikolasCruz discusses what neighbor’s son did to him and younger brother Zachary as children to play Xbox. https://t.co/4oD4mr9lln pic.twitter.com/LImBWtjI3v
— WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) October 6, 2022
Jurors shown videos of Cruz speaking about alleged abuse
Thursday 6 October 2022 21:34 , Rachel Sharp
Jurors were shown the videos of Nikolas Cruz speaking about the alleged sexual abuse after the judge ruled that they could be played in court.
In the footage, Cruz says he has “memories” of the abuse but isn’t certain it happened
Prosecution rests rebuttal case
Thursday 6 October 2022 21:36 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution has rested its rebuttal case in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz.
The trial is now on recess until Tuesday when the state and the defence will present their closing arguments.
The jury will begin deliberations as soon as Wednesday to decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or to death.
RECAP: What happened in court on Thursday?
Thursday 6 October 2022 22:10 , Rachel Sharp
The prosecution rested its case on Thursday afternoon after hearing more testimony from clinical psychologist Dr Denney.
Dr Denney said his diagnosis is that Nikolas Cruz does not have a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) or any neurocognitive disorder. Instead, he said he has antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder and shows malingering.
Jurors were shown a video from Dr Denney’s interviews with Cruz where Cruz described torturing and killing animals as a child. “I burned, I tortured them, I skinned them alive, I shot them. I would play with their dead bodies or I would eat them,” he said.
In another video clip, Cruz told Dr Denney he chose Valentine’s Day for his attack to ruin the day for the community. Dr Denney asked Cruz if there was “anything important that I haven’t asked you?” Cruz paused for a few seconds and replied: “Why I chose Valentine’s Day. He told him it was “because I thought no one would love me. I didn’t like Valentine’s Day and I wanted to ruin it for everyone.” The comments drew a gasp from victims’ family members in the courtroom.
Jurors were shown videos of Cruz speaking about the alleged sexual abuse that he claims he suffered at the hands of a neighbour. Cruz told Dr Denney and Dr Scott, an earlier expert witnesses for the prosecution, that he was “sexually molested” by the older son of his mother’s friend. He claimed that the boy, who was around 10 when he was eight, told him he would let him play on his Xbox if they “do things”. However Cruz said he wasn’t certain his memory was correct. “My memory I think it did happen but I don’t want to make him a sexual predator or anything like that,” he said.
What happens now?
Thursday 6 October 2022 23:00 , Rachel Sharp
Closing arguments – The prosecution and the defence will give their closing arguments on Tuesday.
Jury gets case – The jury will retire for deliberations as early as Wednesday, after closing arguments. Jurors will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or to death.
Who is Zachary Cruz?
Thursday 6 October 2022 23:30 , Rachel Sharp
The brother of Parkland mass shooter Nikolas Cruz is believed to be starring in a reality show about his life and was previously charged with trespassing at the school where his brother murdered 17 innocent people.
Zachary Cruz, 22, was expected to testify for the defence in Cruz’s sentencing trial, where a jury will decide whether to give him to life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
But, the defence shocked the courtroom by resting its case on 14 September after calling less than half of its witness list – with Zachary still notably absent from the witness stand.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Who is Zachary Cruz? Parkland shooter’s brother to testify at trial
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
Friday 7 October 2022 00:00 , Rachel Sharp
The two men who took Nikolas Cruz’s brother under their wing in the wake of the Parkland massacre have been arrested for allegedly exploiting him – just as the mass shooter’s sentencing trial is drawing to a close.
Mike Donovan and Richard Moore, both 45, were arrested at their home in Virginia on Wednesday and charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretences.
They were each released on $50,000 bond later that day.
The couple, who cofounded bond servicing company Nexus, took Zachary Cruz, 22, under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Zachary and Cruz, who shared the same biological mother Brenda Woodard and were adopted and raised together by Lynda and Roger Cruz, had been left orphaned in November 2017 when their adoptive mother died.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
What we’ve learned so far in the trial:
01:00 , Rachel Sharp
On Valentine’s Day 2018, Cruz traveled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
There, the then-19-year-old stalked all three floors of the freshman building, shooting and killing 17 students and staff members.
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Now, the jury will decide whether to hand him the death penalty or to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far in the trial:
Nikolas Cruz’s sentencing trial: What we’ve learned so far
Nikolas Cruz had a horror start to life but does it matter in trial?
02:00 , Rachel Sharp
It began before he was even born: Nikolas Cruz’s biological mother drank alcohol and abused drugs while he was still in the womb.
At the age of five, his adoptive father suddenly collapsed and died in front of him in the family home. In his teenage years, he was allegedly bullied by his brother and sexually abused by a so-called “trusted peer”. At 19, he became an orphan when his adoptive mother died from pneumonia.
And just three months later, he murdered 17 innocent students and staff in a shooting rampage at his former high school.
“Without any one of those problems, it may never have happened,” Abigail Marsh, professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at Georgetown University, tells The Independent.
“For any given person there is a causal explanation, a link… and, on average, people who become mass shooters or are very violent have had these experiences or risk factors. There’s no one thing that you can say that is the reason but, together, a perfect storm of risk factors can give the means, motive and opportunity.”
These so-called risk factors have all come into focus in recent weeks as Cruz’s team of public defenders tries to convince a jury of his peers that his life should be spared.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp details what jurors have learned about Cruz’s start in life and speaks to a psychologist and criminal defence attorney about what impact this truly had on him committing his crime and whether or not it will make any difference in the eyes of the jury:
Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz may have had a horror start to life but does it matter?
Parkland shooter claims he was sexually abused by neighbour
03:00 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz claimed that he was sexually abused by a male neighbour when he was nine years old, jurors learned on Thursday.
Under cross-examination, Cruz’s attorney asked Dr Denney about what the mass shooter had told him about the alleged abuse.
Attorney David Wheeler said that, when Cruz was nine, a family moved in next door to his.
The boy in that family began performing “sexual acts” with Cruz when he went over to play Xbox with him, Mr Wheeler said.
“[Cruz] would go over to play videogames and someone in that family would have him do things in order to play on the Xbox,” he said.
Mr Wheeler said that Cruz claimed that one time the boy allegedly took him into a bathroom and “asked him if he wanted to try something new”.
The neighbour then took out his penis, put on a condom and penetrated Cruz, the shooter has claimed.
Dr Denney confirmed that Cruz had told him about the abuse but said he didn’t recall all of the details of his claims.
The defence pointed out that Cruz told Dr Denney that the boy and his mother later came to live with the Cruz family in their home.
Cruz claimed he stole some money from the boy “to get back at him”, the attorney said.
He told the expert that he was hesitant about coming forward over the sexual assault, because he “didn’t want people to think this boy was a sexual predator,” said Mr Wheeler.
However, clinical psychologist Dr Denney seemed to cast doubts on the allegations by saying that Cruz told him “some recollections which he said were recollections”.
“He wasn’t aware of it until after he was arrested,” he said.
He added: “There was some suggestion that might’ve happened. He was only told that it happened after he was arrested… That’s what Mr Cruz told me.”
The alleged abuser was not named in the testimony and his age was not revealed.
The key witnesses jurors won’t hear from
04:00 , Rachel Sharp
In a move that caught the entire courtroom off guard, Nikolas Cruz’s defence team announced it was resting its case in his sentencing trial after calling less than a third of its expected witnesses.
The 23-year-old mass murderer’s legal team previously said it planned to call around 80 witnesses to the stand as they try to convince jurors to sentence him to life in prison instead of to death.
But, at the start of the 14 September court session, Cruz’s lead attorney Melisa McNeill suddenly revealed that the defence was resting – after calling only around 25 witnesses.
Notable names expected to take to the stand were Cruz’s brother Zachary Cruz and Richard Moore, who took Zachary into his home after the shooting.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz trial: Key witnesses jurors won’t hear from after defence rested case
ICYMI: Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and cognitive issues: ‘He was clearly playing games’
06:00 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz has been faking the extent of his mental illness and cognitive issues and was “clearly playing games” during evaluations with experts, according to a renowned clinical psychologist.
Dr Robert Denney took the witness stand on Tuesday morning in the sentencing trial for the 24-year-old mass murderer, where jurors will decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or to death for the murders of 17 people on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Dr Denney, who is one of just seven people in the world with board certifications in both forensic psychology and clinical neuropsychology, visited Cruz in Broward County Jail over two days in March to carry out a series of tests.
He testified that Cruz cheated during the tests and was “grossly exaggerating” symptoms of mental illness, poor memory and other health concerns.
“He is grossly exaggerating severe mental illness,” he said, adding that “[he was] grossly exaggerating severe psychiatric problems as well as semantic concerns, body concerns, cognitive concerns and memory complaints”.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Nikolas Cruz faked extent of mental illness and ‘was playing games’ with expert
Timeline of the Parkland massacre
08:00 , Rachel Sharp
Nikolas Cruz, the man convicted of shooting dead 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018, is now facing a sentencing trial for his crimes.
Cruz – a former student at the institution who was a member of its air rifle team and had a lengthy disciplinary record – was just 19 when he arrived that day in an Uber bearing a legally-purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and gunned down 14 students and three members of staff in what proved to be one of the deadliest school massacres in American history.
He was arrested later that day by police and pleaded guilty to 17 charges of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted murder, his actions sparking a nationwide protest movement demanding tighter gun control measures and an unsavoury political debate in which survivors of the attack including David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez were accused of being paid “crisis actors” by conspiracy-minded members of the right-wing commentariat.
Here’s a timeline of the massacre:
A timeline of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Who is Zachary Cruz?
10:00 , Rachel Sharp
The brother of Parkland mass shooter Nikolas Cruz is believed to be starring in a reality show about his life and was previously charged with trespassing at the school where his brother murdered 17 innocent people.
Zachary Cruz, 22, was expected to testify for the defence in Cruz’s sentencing trial, where a jury will decide whether to give him to life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
But, the defence shocked the courtroom by resting its case on 14 September after calling less than half of its witness list – with Zachary still notably absent from the witness stand.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Who is Zachary Cruz? Parkland shooter’s brother to testify at trial
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
11:00 , Rachel Sharp
The two men who took Nikolas Cruz’s brother under their wing in the wake of the Parkland massacre have been arrested for allegedly exploiting him – just as the mass shooter’s sentencing trial is drawing to a close.
Mike Donovan and Richard Moore, both 45, were arrested at their home in Virginia on Wednesday and charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretences.
They were each released on $50,000 bond later that day.
The couple, who cofounded bond servicing company Nexus, took Zachary Cruz, 22, under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Zachary and Cruz, who shared the same biological mother Brenda Woodard and were adopted and raised together by Lynda and Roger Cruz, had been left orphaned in November 2017 when their adoptive mother died.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Two men charged with exploiting brother of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz
Who are Richard Moore and Mike Donovan?
12:00 , Rachel Sharp
Richard Moore and his husband Mike Donovan both took Zachary Cruz under their wing after his brother murdered 17 students and staff members in the Parkland massacre.
The couple, both 45, are cofounders of bond servicing company Nexus.
They had never met Zachary or Nikolas Cruz prior to the 2018 mass shooting but reached out to Zachary following his trespassing arrest.
Zachary moved from Florida to live with the couple and their son in their family home in Virginia.
Mr Moore has attended some of Cruz’s trial and was seen at the courthouse when the defence began presenting its case.
He previously said that he doesn’t approve of what Cruz did but believes “nobody should face this alone”.
Mr Moore’s name has cropped up during the trial, with prosecutors saying that he had sent thousands of dollars of commissary to Cruz in prison “this year alone” and speaks regularly to the mass shooter through jailhouse phone calls.
On 5 October, Mr Moore and Mr Donovan were both arrested on felony charges of exploiting Zachary. They were charged with exploiting a mentally incapacitated person and obtaining money by false pretenses and released on $50,000 bond.
What we’ve learned so far in the trial:
13:00 , Rachel Sharp
On Valentine’s Day 2018, Cruz traveled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School armed with an AR-15-style rifle.
There, the then-19-year-old stalked all three floors of the freshman building, shooting and killing 17 students and staff members.
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Now, the jury will decide whether to hand him the death penalty or to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far in the trial:
