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Judge dismisses pool of 60 potential jurors in trial to decide death penalty for Parkland killer after eight panelists break down in tears and have to be escorted out of courtroom
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Seven women and one man had to be escorted out, some in tears, on Monday

  • Eventually, Judge Elizabeth Scherer dismissed the entire pool of potential jurors

  • The judge had already screened two 60-person panels in court that day

  • The jury selection process for the sentencing of Nikolas Cruz
    ...diagnoses of autism, anxiety, depression and significant psychological problems, described as a troubled kid obsessed with guns — the police came to the family home frequently to deal with him. Mr. Cruz was adopted at birth, then his adoptive father died when he was young, followed into the grave by his adoptive mother a few months before he ran amok. So really he was a classic school shooter. Interestingly, his biological sister Danielle Woodard, a decade older, also has a long rap sheet and is classified as a habitual violent offender...
    has been marred with emotional outbursts

  • Cruz, 23, confessed to killing 17 people at a South Florida high school in 2018

  • A jury will soon decide whether he gets life in prison or the death penalty
Under Florida law, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to recommend that a judge sentence Cruz to be executed.

If any of the 12 jurors objects, Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Among the mitigating factors the defense will ask the jury to consider are Cruz's brain damage from his mother's drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy, his long history of mental-health disorders, and allegations he was sexually abused and bullied.
Posted by: Skidmark 2022-04-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=630181