Does Parkland shooter deserve death? The legal battle looms
“In a case this serious, nothing should be waived or agreed to at such an early stage,” said Miami defense lawyer Philip Reizenstein. “Admitting he committed the act is one step removed from saying he ‘knowingly’ killed those children. And that would damage an insanity defense.”
But longtime Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, who offered the plea deal, says he’s just being realistic.
“This is not a whodunnit,” Finkelstein told The Miami Herald. “There’s 120 witnesses who saw him do it. These are witnesses who know him. They went to school with him. What am I going to do, say I’ve got a secret witness who’ll say the real killer was hiding inside the bag with the guns? ...
“This isn’t Mr. Mustard in the library with the candle. This is trial with real people as jurors who see reality as it is.”
Finkelstein said the terms of the plea bargain – 17 consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole – would keep Cruz behind bars forever while sparing the victims and the community a trial that might not take place for years, not to mention even more years of appeals.
And, of course, he wants to keep his client off Death Row. “That’s my job, to save his life,” Finkelstein said.
While unorthodox, quick guilty pleas – in the face of a potential death sentence – are not unheard of in South Florida criminal court.
In 2011, a Miami drifter named Reynerio Alonso Rivero pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the stabbing death of a West Kendall woman. He agreed to life in prison, less than one month after his arrest, before prosecutors could indict him for first-degree murder.
The victim’s family, wanting closure and to avoid years of hearings and appeals, agreed to the plea, which spared Rivero from a possible death sentence. “This is the best way to preserve Mr. Alonso’s life,” his lawyer, Patrick Nally, said at the time.
The quick-draw approach didn’t work, at least at first, in the case of Miami’s Nelson Santoni. Four years ago, Santoni tried to plead guilty and take a life sentence, just one month after his arrest for the drug-fueled strangulation death of his neighbor. But a Miami judge refused because the next of kin had been unable to attend court hearings.
An appeals court later agreed, saying Florida rules do “not permit a defendant to unilaterally dictate when the trial court can accept a plea.” In the end, though, Santoni Students released from a lockdown embrace following the shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
got the outcome he was hoping for. Last year, prosecutors agreed to waive the death penalty and he was indeed sentenced to life in prison.
The likelihood of that working out for Cruz, though, is small, most South Florida legal experts agree. The prosecution will be watched closely, not just in Florida but across the entire country, and Broward State Attorney Michael Satz may handle the case himself. Friends and foes regard him as a fierce prosecutor.
“Mr. Satz’s office has a reputation of taking a hard line in plea negotiations,” said South Florida criminal defense attorney David Weinstein, a former prosecutor. “Whether facing a misdemeanor or a life felony, his plea offers are among the toughest in the state, especially in cases involving identifiable victims.”
And even if Satz were inclined to be forbearing, there would be pragmatic difficulties for a plea bargain that excluded the death penalty. Among the biggest: Prosecutors almost always want the victims’ families to agree to such a deal. “It’s not a legal requirement, but it’s a practical one,” agreed Finkelstein. “And it’s a moral one.”
For a prosecutor to secure that agreement from the survivors of one murder victim can be difficult. To do it with 17 families, plus the surviving victims, becomes a task of Herculean proportions.
Satz must also consider the deal’s long-term implications for death-penalty prosecutions.
“The problem for Satz is that if he agrees to waive death on a case where 17 innocents are slaughtered, he can never ask for it again,” said retired Miami-dade major crimes prosecutor Abe Laeser. “Every future case would include the phrase by the defense: ‘If Parkland did not deserve death, how dare they even ask on my client?’”
“Sometimes prosecutors need to take a case to trial for reasons of future equity. Accept the guilty plea – then ask a jury to make the tough call.”
Satz has yet to make a definite response to Finkelstein’s plea offer, telling reporters that “now is the time to let the families grieve and bury their children and loved ones.”
But he pointedly added: “This certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for. This was a highly calculated and premeditated murder of 17 people and the attempted murder of everyone in that school.”
Finkelstein’s plea offer may not remain on the table for long. Cruz would be in line for a substantial inheritance from his dead parents – perhaps as much as $800,000. If he’s able to access the money, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer may require Cruz to hire his own attorney rather than rely on the public defender’s office, which would knock Finkelstein off the case.