Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison this week, but not before the families of the 17 people he murdered get the chance to speak to him.
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A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday that will conclude with Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentencing Cruz for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School.
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The jury at his trial could not unanimously agree that he deserved a death sentence, so he was sentenced to life without parole, an outcome most of the families criticized.
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Each of the families of the 14 students and three staff members Cruz killed can speak. The families gave highly emotional statements during the trial
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Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was murdered, said they are looking forward to speaking without the restrictions that were imposed upon them.
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According to prosecutors, Cruz planned the shooting for seven months, firing 140 shots with a semi-automatic rifle down the hallways and into classrooms.
Cruz’s attorneys never questioned the horror he inflicted, but focused on their belief that his birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnant time left him brain damaged and condemned him to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the massacre The history is what it is.
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After Cruz is sentenced, he will be transferred from the Broward County jail to the state correctional system’s processing center near Miami, then later to a maximum-security prison according to his lawyers.
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McAndrew said that Cruz’s cell will be 9 feet by 12 feet with a bed, sink and metal toilet.
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Cruz will be kept in protective management until prison officials believe it is safe to place him into the general population, which could take years.
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Craig Trocino, a University of Miami law professor, said one benefit of Cruz getting a life sentence is that he will fade from public view; a death sentence would have brought a decade of appeals with the possibility of a re trial.