Parkland killer’s life or death, Day 40: State rests case, jurors visit crime scene

Kathy Laskowski, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·2 min read
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Editor’s note: Daily coverage of the Parkland trial is being provided to all readers as a public service.

Here are updates from Day 40 in the sentencing trial of confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, 23; a jury will decide if he will be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

  • The state rests: By mid-afternoon Thursday, after the last of the victim impact statements were read to the jurors, on the 11th day of testimony, the state rested its case.

  • Crime scene: Jurors entered the 1200 building, the freshman building where the murders took place, at 9:55 a.m. Thursday and exited at 11:27 a.m., just over 90 minutes observing the site of the mass shooting. They were transported under heavy security to and from the site, and were not allowed to carry cellphones or any devices into the building with them to record anything they saw. They were also instructed not to speak to each other about what they were seeing.

  • Raw emotions: The final victim impact statements were read to the court on Thursday. Speaking were Debbi, Thomas and Corey Hixon, wife and sons of Chris Hixon, 49; Anne Ramsay, mother of Helena Ramsay, 17; Aaron Chen, Lin Chen, and Hui Wang, cousins and mother of Peter Wang, 15, and Gabe Ammirata, friend of Peter Wang and his family, who read statements from Peter’s friends.

  • Quote: Feb. 14 “will never be a celebration and can never be the same for him, and now is filled with pain, as is every day,” Anne Ramsay said about her husband, Vinnie, because their daughter Helena was killed on his birthday

  • Quote: “My dad was an extraordinary man living an ordinary life,” Thomas Hixon about his father, Chris.

  • Quote: “I miss him!” Corey Hixon shouted to the courtroom about his father.

  • Quote: “I have four tattoos of Peter on my body. I get one every year on Feb. 14, to symbolize that he is with me,” Hui Wang’s statement about her son Peter.

  • Looking ahead: The court is in recess until Aug. 22.

Go to SunSentinel.com/parkland-shooting for complete coverage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy and ongoing coverage of the sentencing trial.