Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial live updates, Day 11: Jurors will walk through crime scene Thursday
FORT LAUDERDALE — Wednesday marks the 11th day of the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018.
For two weeks, jurors have heard testimony from teachers and students who survived the shooting; from medical examiners who performed the victims' autopsies; and from others, like an Uber driver and a gun-shop owner, who spoke of their interactions with the gunman.
The 12-person jury will recommend whether Cruz, then 19 and now 23, is put to death or sentenced to life in prison without parole. If it recommends death, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will make the final ruling, likely sometime this fall.
Follow along for live coverage of Wednesday's hearing.
'You're all going to die': Nikolas Cruz detailed plans in chilling video
For subscribers: Meet the 80-year-old prosecutor making the case for Nikolas Cruz receiving the death penalty
6 minutes of terror: New revelations rise as Parkland survivors recount Nikolas Cruz attack
Judge Scherer prepares jurors to walk through crime scene
Scherer, prosecutors and Cruz's defense team spent 45 minutes discussing the logistics of jurors' upcoming visit to the Stoneman Douglas freshman building.
Jurors will explore open classrooms in the three-story building, which has been preserved as a crime scene since the shooting. They can move throughout each floor at their own pace but can't move or pick up anything, the judge said.
"Observing. Not touching," she said. No pointing, either.
They'll trade in their electronics for optional face masks, gloves and shoe coverings before walking inside. Like other graphic evidence throughout the trial, the jury view will not be streamed to the public. Only a handful of reporters will be allowed inside afterward.
Cruz's defense team objected to the notion of jurors entering classrooms out of fear that it would traumatize and inappropriately sway their opinion on whether he be executed or sentenced to life without parole.
The judge overruled the objection and advised jurors to wear closed-toed shoes.
Father reads son's poem at Nikolas Cruz trial
Jennifer and Tony Montalto, the parents of 14-year-old Gina Montalto, took the stand first. Cruz shot their daughter to death in the first-floor hallway of the freshman building.
"Gina didn't come home from school that day," Jennifer Montalto said.
She remembers her daughter as an athlete who loved Harry Potter and "The Hunger Games," and who dreamed of living in a library. Now her parents watch the front door, imagining that she'll walk through it again.
Gina's father appeared to brace himself before he read his statement to jurors. He wore the same clothes to the courthouse that he wore to his last father-daughter dance with her, Tony Montalto said.
"I was so happy to be her father," Montalto said.
She was beautiful, he continued, a gift from God. And an avid reader, a Girl Scout, an independent teen, a fierce competitor. Life without her is unbearable, he said. The pain is unimaginable.
Her brother, Anthony, struggles to make sense of Gina's death, his father said. The two of them were best friends, always loud and laughing. Their house is quiet now.
The father of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who died in his desk in English class, described his son to jurors. Alex was a movie aficionado, a trombonist, a guard on the basketball team, a New England Patriots fan, a gamer, a jokester.
"And a son," Max Schachter said. "My son."
Their family is broken now, Schachter said, haunted by a constant emptiness. He can't smile without feeling the "sharp realization that I'll always be sad and miserable" because Alex isn't here. He wishes every day that this was just a nightmare.
Alex's brother read aloud a poem that his father found in the teen's bedroom trash can after his murder. It begins like this:
"Life is like a roller coaster
It has some ups and downs
Sometimes you can take it slow
Or very fast
It may be hard to breathe at times
But you just have to push yourself
And keep going."
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Nikolas Cruz trial: Jurors will tour Stoneman Douglas freshman building
