Florida passes bill to lower jury threshold for death penalty cases
Florida will soon no longer require unanimous jury recommendations for judges to impose death-penalty sentences under a bill the Legislature approved Thursday, a reaction to the life sentence handed to the man who massacred 17 people at a Parkland high school.
Judge who sentenced Parkland shooter removed from other case
The judge who oversaw the sentencing of the Parkland massacre gunman was removed from another death penalty murder case Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court, which agreed she showed unfair sympathy for prosecutors in the Parkland school shooting case.
Parkland shooting: 5 years after tragedy, families cope through good works
After a murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School five years ago Tuesday, their families were left with a burning question: How do we go on with our lives while honoring our loved one’s memory?
Family of Parkland victim creates program for families impacted by gun violence
As the five-year anniversary of the Parkland school shooting approaches, family members of the victims work to honor them.
Parkland shooting 'feels like five minutes ago' says father of victim ahead of somber anniversary
Five years after a mass shooting that shook Florida, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Parkland remain inextricably linked to the ghastly day when a troubled teenager in less than four minutes killed 14 students and three staff members, injured 17 more and traumatized an untold number of children and families.
Parkland shooter prosecutors ask for investigation after juror said she felt threatened by fellow juror
Prosecutors in the case of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz are calling for an investigation after a juror said she felt threatened by another member of the jury during deliberations that ended with a life sentence for Cruz’s murder of 17 people.
Three Parkland shooting trial jurors voted against death penalty, foreperson says
The jury foreman said three of the jurors ultimately voted for life in prison, with one of them being a "hard no" on the death penalty and another two ultimately choosing to vote against it as well.
Parkland shooting verdict: Florida leaders react to jury recommending life in prison for Nikolas Cruz
After a Florida jury rejected the death penalty and recommended life in prison without parole for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz, state leaders and lawmakers are speaking out.
Parkland penalty trial: Jurors begin deliberations nearly three months after sentencing phase began
Nikolas Cruz pled guilty last year to the 2018 attack that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida, and after a three-month-long trial and hearing all the evidence, it’s time for the jury to make their decision. Should Cruz be sentenced to death or life without parole?
Parkland shooter trial: Attorneys argue over death or prison for Nikolas Cruz
The prosecutor and defense attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz agreed Tuesday that his 2018 attack that killed 17 people was horrible, but disagreed in their closing arguments on whether it was an act of evil worthy of execution or one of a broken person who should be imprisoned for life.
Florida man left dead animals at Parkland school shooting memorial, sheriff says
A Florida man has been charged with leaving dead animals on three separate occasions at a memorial for the 17 victims of the Parkland school massacre, officials said Friday.
Parkland shooter trial: Nikolas Cruz witnessed dad’s death at age 5, family friend testifies
Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s attorneys presented more testimony Monday that the mass killer exhibited violent, disruptive, and troubling behavior from his earliest years and witnessed his adoptive father’s sudden death just before his sixth birthday.
Parkland shooter trial: Nikolas Cruz fixated with guns, dreamed of killing, psychiatrist says
Four years before Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people at a Florida high school, therapists at another school wrote a letter to his psychiatrist saying he was fixated on guns and dreamed of killing others and being covered in blood, testimony at his penalty trial showed Thursday.
Florida grand jury wants school board members removed over Parkland massacre
A Florida grand jury empaneled after a 2018 school massacre has recommended that Gov. Ron DeSantis remove from office four members of the Broward County school board, saying they and district administrators displayed “deceit, malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty and incompetence” in their handling of a campus safety program.
Nikolas Cruz pleads guilty to 2018 Parkland school shooting
The guilty pleas will set the stage for a penalty trial in which 12 jurors will determine whether Cruz should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
Parkland shooter trial: Jury shown dried blood and roses at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Roses brought to honor love on that Valentine’s Day in 2018 lay withered, their dried and cracked petals scattered across classroom floors still smeared with the blood of victims gunned down by a former student more than four years earlier.
Parkland shooter trial: Jurors see Nikolas Cruz’s violent internet posts
Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz saw evidence Wednesday of his growing obsession to commit a massacre, seeing internet posts and searches about mass killings in the months before he murdered 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Parkland shooter trial: Officers describe horror they saw after massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Prosecutors on Friday showed jurors photos of the horrific damage the bullets fired by Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s AR-15 rifle did to some of his 17 victims, causing extensive wounds to their heads, bodies, and limbs.
Nikolas Cruz penalty trial: Teachers weep recalling students killed in Parkland high school shooting
Teachers gave heart-wrenching testimony Wednesday in the penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, with one recalling how a boy in her Holocaust studies class correctly answered a question seconds before he became one of 17 people murdered during the school shooter’s rampage four years ago.
Nikolas Cruz trial: Penalty phase begins to determine life or death in Parkland high school mass shooting
The prosecutor seeking the death penalty for the gunman who massacred 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school detailed for jurors Monday how Nikolas Cruz coldly mowed down his victims, returning to some as they lay wounded to finish them off with a second volley.