Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial live updates: Defense - Parkland shooter is 'broken, brain-damaged'

FORT LAUDERDALE — Jurors returned to a Fort Lauderdale courtroom Tuesday for closing arguments in the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland school gunman.

Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

A 12-person jury will recommend whether Cruz, then 19 and now 24, is put to death or sentenced to life in prison, with deliberations starting as soon as today. If it recommends death, a move that must be unanimous, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will make the final ruling.

Cruz's team of public defenders rested its case on Sept. 14, setting the stage for prosecutors' rebuttal and closing arguments over the coming weeks.

The Palm Beach Post is covering the daily proceedings live. Follow the entries below for updates throughout Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Prosecution rests its case against Parkland gunman

'He dreams of killing others': Witnesses say Nikolas Cruz's childhood marked by paranoia, aggression

6 minutes of terror:New revelations rise as Parkland survivors recount Nikolas Cruz attack

Defense attorney: Parkland shooter is a 'broken, brain-damaged, mentally ill young man'

In her closing remarks, Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill asked jurors to consider not only Cruz's crime but also his personal history, describing Cruz as a “broken, brain-damaged, mentally ill young man” who was "poisoned" in the womb through his birth mother’s frequent use of drugs and alcohol during her pregnancy.

McNeill focused much of her argument on Cruz’s early childhood, recounting testimony from witnesses describing how Cruz’s late biological mother, Brenda Woodward, smoked cigarettes and drugs and drank beer while she was pregnant.

During the trial phase of the sentencing hearing, two expert witnesses for the defense testified that Cruz suffered severe brain damage as a result of his biological mother’s alcohol abuse.

McNeill urged jurors to consider Cruz’s history of mental illness in rendering their decision, and argued that Cruz should be given a life sentence instead of the death penalty. She urged jurors to choose "courage over comfort" and told them that their decision should not be based on anger, revenge or hate.

“It is the right thing to do,” McNeill said of a life sentence. “Sentencing Nikolas to life and being up here and asking you to do that is the right thing to do.”

Jurors were dismissed shortly after 3:30 p.m. with instructions to return at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday for instructions. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer instructed jurors that they will be sequestered in the event that deliberations extend beyond Wednesday.

Prosecutor: 'The only appropriate sentence... is the death penalty'

Winding up a two-hour closing argument Tuesday morning, lead prosecutor Michael Satz repeated the name of each of Nikolas Cruz's 17 victims and said, "The only appropriate sentence for Nikolas Cruz is the death penalty."

With that, the prosecution ended its case against the confessed school shooter. The defense will begin its closing arguments after a lunch recess that ends at 12:45 p.m.

Satz painted a picture of Cruz as a cold-blooded murder who meticulously planned out the massacre and has antisocial personality disorder, not fetal alcohol syndrome as defense attorneys claim.

"Hate is not a mental disorder," said Satz, pointing to swastikas Cruz etched into his shoes and the use of the "N-word" in his writings. "Hate is part of antisocial personality,"

Cruz was "hunting his victims" and even returned to kill students like Peter Yang and Joaquin Oliver whose initial gunshot wounds were not fatal, according to medical examiners who testified during the four-month trial.

Satz reminded the jury of Cruz saying that Yang's "head blew up like a water balloon" after the 15-year-old freshman was shot at point-blank range.

The murders, Satz said, were “were unrelentlessly heinous, atrocious and cruel.”

"He carried out his plan, and his plan was, and he told everybody about his plan,” Satz said, referring to a video investigators found on his phone: “Hello, my name is Nick, I am going to be the next school shooter.”

Jurors re-watched a surveillance video of Cruz's rampage during Satz's closing.

Prosecutor: Parkland shooter Cruz's words 'window to the soul'

"What you write, what you say is a window to someone's soul," prosecutor Michael Satz told the 12-person jury Tuesday morning during closing arguments to Nikolas Cruz's death sentencing case.

Satz was referring to the violent, weapons-obsessed social media videos and posts that Cruz posted leading up to the Valentine Day's massacre in 2018.

Satz urged the jury to review Cruz's comments in which he wrote and spoke about his desire to kill people and become a school shooter.

The veteran prosecutor began his closing arguments by calling the shootings "calculated, purposeful and systematic mass murder."

Much like he did during his 90-minute opening argument four months ago, Satz spoke without the aid of any notes, reciting from memory the countless details that made up the case.

In July 2019, more than a year after the Parkland school shooting, Satz announced he would not seek re-election as Broward County state attorney so that he could devote all of his time to prosecuting Cruz. It was Satz who rejected an offer by Cruz's defense team to exchange a guilty plea for a sentence of life in prison.

Jorge Milian is a journalist covering Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach at The Palm Beach Post. He has covered the Parkland school shootings since the day they happened. You can reach him at jmilian@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at Caneswatch. Help support our work, subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Nikolas Cruz trial: Defense 'Parkland shooter broken, brain-damaged'