From the moment the bullets stopped flying at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, there was never any doubt about who did it—Nikolas Cruz. Less than 24 hours after the shooting, he confessed to being the person who murdered 17 people and injured 17 others in one of the worst mass school shootings in American history.
Soon afterward, Cruz’s lawyers let it be known that he was more than willing to plead guilty and accept life without parole. Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office has been representing Cruz, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Miami Herald that with no question of Cruz’s guilt, a trial would serve no purpose except to delay the victims’ healing.
But inexplicably, prosecutors haven’t been of that mind. They have insisted on seeking the death penalty. In so doing, they have potentially added a fundamentally un-American corollary to the argument for the death penalty. Remember how we’ve been told that certain crimes are so heinous that those who commit them must forfeit their right to live? Well, apparently Broward County prosecutors believe that Cruz effectively forfeited his right to surrender as well. They were effectively saying that they were willing to shoot Cruz even as he was waving a flag of truce.
Earlier Wednesday, Cruz put the ball firmly in prosecutors’ court when he pleaded guilty to all charges. For now, anyway, prosecutors have maintained their obstinate intention of seeking the death penalty.
Cruz entered his plea knowing full well that, at the very least, he was consigning himself to never breathe free air again.
Cruz, 23, faces a minimum of life in prison and maximum of the death penalty, which will be decided by a jury in the upcoming sentencing phase of the trial. The prosecution has said they plan to seek the death penalty.
In court, Cruz wore a collared shirt, black vest, face mask and large, thick-framed glasses. He stood at the court lectern and answered Judge Elizabeth Scherer's series of questions with a "yes ma'am" or "no ma'am," and assured her, "I know what's going on." He said he had depression and anxiety, and that he was experiencing anxiety in court, but he said he was able to proceed.
Cruz also apologized to the victims and the survivors, saying that the shooting “still brings me nightmares.” He also said that he believed they should decide his fate. He had hinted that he would change his plea last week, when he pleaded guilty to assaulting a Broward County deputy at the jail where he has been held since 2018 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. At that hearing, Cruz’s lawyer, David Wheeler, announced that his client intended to formally plead guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
Wednesday’s hearing was actually the first formal plea Cruz had made in the case. For three years, out of respect for the families, he had “stood mute” when asked to enter a plea; under Florida law, the judge entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. His lawyers have maintained that they could not allow him to plead guilty as long as the death penalty was on the table. Considering that prosecutors still intend to seek the death penalty at this point, one has to wonder what changed.
Longtime Broward County state’s attorney Michael Satz has maintained that Cruz shouldn’t be allowed to determine his fate by pleading guilty. Rather, he has argued that a jury should decide whether he lives or dies. Satz retired in 2020 and handed his office to Harold Pryor, who is of the same mind as Satz. However, Satz is still personally leading the prosecution of this case.
Satz and Pryor’s obstinacy is a big reason that this case hasn’t come to trial—as well as the fact that we’re in a pandemic and the sheer magnitude of the case—even though, and it cannot be repeated enough, there is no dispute that Cruz is guilty. For example, the defense team’s mental health experts have refused to travel to Florida to interview Cruz in person due to COVID-19 concerns. However, Broward County jail officials have been reluctant to let Cruz travel to meet with those experts.
This could have all been avoided had Satz and Pryor had the decency to let Cruz plead guilty. It would allow us to focus on the victims, their families, and their friends, not on Cruz and whatever brought him to grab that AR-15 and start shooting. Additionally, if Cruz gets sentenced to death, the appeals process would stretch for a decade or more, denying the victims closure.
All things considered, if Satz and Pryor maintain their decision to seek the death penalty, it will show that they are more interested in getting a pound of flesh rather than actual justice. They will also be effectively saying that it is possible for someone to be below the law. That is fundamentally un-American.
Judge Scherer intends to impanel a jury for the penalty phase starting in November, with a view toward holding the penalty phase next year. Hopefully by then, Satz and Pryor will have the decency to take the death penalty off the table. They need to understand that like it or not, Cruz has rights that must be respected even though there has never been any question that he is guilty.