Parkland Sentencing Trial: Prosecutors Recount Shooting

The sentencing trial of the man who killed 17 people at a Florida high school began on Monday, four years after the massacre.

Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor, told the jury on Monday that the shooter intended to kill 14 children, an athletic director, a teacher and a coach.

Cruz was sentenced to 17 counts of first-degree murder. The jury will decide if he is sentenced to death or life in prison. The jury needs to be unanimous in order for him to be sentenced to death.

The sentencing trial of the gunman will decide if he is sentenced to death or life in prison.

Satz told the courtroom that Cruz arrived at the school with an assault rifle and warned a student that something bad was about to happen.

Satz told the family members where the victims were killed and the number of times they were shot.

All 17 murders were heinous, atrocious, and cruel. All 17 were premeditated.

After prosecutors make their case, the defense attorneys for Cruz will open. They are expected to argue that Cruz had mental health issues and should not be put to death.

There are 16 factors that make a person eligible for the death penalty in Florida. In order to rule in favor of the death penalty, the jury must agree on at least one of the factors. There are circumstances in which capital punishment should not be imposed.

Prosecutors plan to argue that Cruz created a great risk of death to many people, that the murders were cold, calculated, and premeditated, and that they were done to.

Satz said that there were many factors that were more important than any of the other factors.

There were demands for gun safety legislation after the school shooting. There was a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 people dead and renewed calls for action.

The recent string of mass shootings and the start of this trial remind shooting survivors and their family members of the dangers of gun violence.

President Joe Biden celebrated the passage of the most significant gun-safety legislation in decades while Fred Guttenberg was at the White House. He relived his daughter's death in the courtroom on Monday.

He said that he was at the courthouse for the start of the penalty phase of the criminal trial of the person who killed his daughter. This is what gun violence looks like.

You can write to the person at the time.