Parkland school mass murderer’s sentencing to begin
By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The two-day sentencing hearing for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is about to start. The hearing opens Tuesday with the families of the 17 people he shot and killed getting the chance after nearly five years to address him directly. The 17 people Cruz wounded also will be able to speak. Afterward, a judge is to formally sentence Cruz on Wednesday to life in prison without parole for his February 2018 massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Judge Elizabeth Scherer says she has no other option. She noted that’s because the jury at his recently concluded penalty trial could not unanimously agree the 24-year-old deserved a death sentence.
