Nikolas Cruz’s defence workforce mentioned that his mind is “irretrievably broken” due to his organic mom’s ingesting and drug-taking whereas pregnant, as they urged jurors to not sentence the Parkland mass shooter to dying.
Attorneys for Cruz delivered opening statements in his defence on Monday morning, as they started their case at his sentencing trial in Broward County, Florida.
Lead public defender Melisa McNeill acknowledged that “there is no defence for this crime” and that Cruz is the “one person responsible for all the pain and suffering” attributable to the bloodbath at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018.
But, whereas it was him who “viciously murdered 17 people”, Ms McNeill mentioned that the “choices” he made that day all started with the “choices” made by his organic mom Brenda Woodard when she “poisoned him in the womb”.
“His brain is broken. He is a damaged human being,” she mentioned.
She detailed how his mom – who put him up for adoption – was homeless, an alcoholic, drug addict and dealing as a prosititue when she fell pregnant with him.
Jurors will hear from witnesses – together with Cruz’s organic sister and Ms Woodard’s former pal and codefendant – about how she continued to drink, take medicine and smoke throughout her being pregnant, the lawyer mentioned.
It was additionally “well-documented” in official information about his mom, she mentioned, claiming that she was “not only drinking alcohol but abusing it”, she mentioned.
“His prenatal vitamins consisted of… Bum wine, crack cocaine and cigarettes,” she mentioned.
“Because of that his brain is irretrievably broken.”
The lawyer added: “At the time she gave her baby up she was living on the streets, drinking, drugging, selling her body.”
Ms McNeill mentioned that Cruz suffered from foetal alcohol spectrum dysfunction (FASD) as she advised jurors they need to “understand the person behind the crime” earlier than they determine if he “lives or dies”.
Cruz was adopted by Lynda Cruz and Roger Cruz – who then later adopted his brother Zachary Cruz, with whom he shares the identical organic mom.
Cruz’s regarding behaviour started to point out at a younger age when he began spending time with different youngsters, mentioned his lawyer.
He started receiving particular training companies from the age of three, was given psychiatric assist and has been identified with anti-social character problems, she mentioned.
“He was seeing a psychiatrist. He was seeing a clinical psychologist. He had a case manager. In-home services. However he continued to struggle with behavioral issues and academic issues,” mentioned Ms McNeill.
Cruz moved round a number of faculties and went to Marjory Stoneman in January 2016
Ms McNeill mentioned that consultants knew that he “never should have gone” to a mainstream highschool and when he arrived there he struggled “behaviouraly, socially and academically” and “drank gasoline”.
In February 2017 – one yr earlier than the bloodbath – he was despatched to an grownup studying centre.
At some level, he developed an “obsession with firearms” and – regardless of his psychological points – his mom purchased him a BB gun. She later went with him to a gun retailer to buy his first firearm.
Lynda Cruz died three months earlier than the college capturing in November 2017.
“I stand before you today in a space filled with overwhelming sadness, painstaking grief, anger and trauma,” she mentioned.
“We have all seen and heard things that no one should have to see or hear. Things that will haunt us forever.
“And everyone sitting here in this courtroom know that there is one person responsible for all the pain and suffering and that person is Nikolas Cruz,” she mentioned, pointing at him within the courtroom.
The lawyer mentioned that his authorized workforce will present them “more about who Nikolas Cruz is… who shaped him… who wasn’t around to shape him.”
“We must understand the person behind the crime… in telling you about his life we will give you reasons for a life,” she mentioned, saying that the defence will present mitigating circumstances round why Cruz ought to reside.
Four years on from the bloodbath, Cruz continues to point out disturbing behaviour together with writing “666 on his cell walls”, his lawyer mentioned.
“One day he wants to live and one day he wants to die,” she mentioned.
Ms McNeill additionally advised the court docket that Cruz is involved with the mom of a Sandy Hook sufferer as – collectively – they wish to stop related massacres from taking place in future.
The lawyer mentioned that Cruz has spoken with Scarlett Lewis whose six-year-old son Jesse was one in all 26 victims murdered within the mass capturing at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on 14 December 2012.
“You will hear about conversations that he has with other people. Sounds like a kid,” she mentioned.
“You will hear that he talks and has video visitations with a woman by the name of Scarlett Lewis whose six-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was murdered in Sandy Hook. And you will hear through those conversations that together, her and Nick are trying to find a way to prevent this from ever happening again.”
She added: “You’ll hear that one day he wants to live and one day he wants to die, and you will also hear that throughout his life he has had obsessions … videogames, guns, exercise, bowel movements, vegan diets. And most recently, demons and Satan.
“And you will hear that with an atomic fireball candy, he’ll write on his cell wall ‘666’. Those are the things he does in isolation. You’ll hear that he writes disturbing things, like a school shooter manifesto. Horrible. We’re not hiding that from you. But his brain is broken. He’s a damaged human being and that’s why these things happened.”
Ms McNeill advised jurors that it’s all the way down to them to determine whether or not the mass killer “lives or dies”, saying that every of them should make the choice on an “individual” foundation as as to if or to not sentence him to dying or to life in jail.
Jurors should unanimously determine on the dying penalty for him to obtain a sentence of dying. If only one juror reaches a verdict of life in jail then he’ll obtain a life sentenece slightly than dying.
During the opening assertion, Cruz was seen making feedback to one of many different members of his authorized workforce.
On 14 February 2018, Cruz travelled to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and carried out one of many deadliest college shootings in American historical past.
The 14 college students killed within the bloodbath had been: Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup and Peter Wang.
The three adults killed had been: Scott Beigel, Chris Hixon and Aaron Feis.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk