Life or Death for Parkland Shooter? Trial Will Take Months

Life or Death for Parkland Shooter? Trial Will Take Months
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table during the penalty phase of his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on July 6, 2022. Carline Jean/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP
|Updated:
0:00

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Four years, five months, and four days after Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, his trial for the deadliest U.S. mass shooting to reach a jury begins Monday with opening statements.

Delayed by the COVID-19 lockdown and legal wrangling, the penalty-only trial is expected to last four months with the seven-man, five-woman jury being exposed to horrific evidence throughout. The jurors will then decide whether Cruz, 23, is sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole.