The case for life for Nikolas Cruz
When you consider the cold-blooded way in which he massacred 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland — shooting some of them again and again, even once they were down — it’s hard not to look at Nikolas Cruz and wish Florida still had Old Sparky so we could say: Fry him.
When you hear about the 17 people who were shot but survived, and those who witnessed hell on earth while hiding for their lives, it makes you think lethal injection is too good for Cruz.
And when you imagine the anguish suffered by so many families who will never get to talk to their loved one again, never get to sit across from them at dinner, never get to dance at their child’s wedding, you can understand why State Attorney Mike Satz this week announced his intention to seek the death penalty for Cruz.
Yet for their sake, and that of our community, we encourage the injured and the victims’ families to seriously consider the offer on the table from Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein. That is, in return for taking the death penalty off the table, let Cruz plead guilty and be sentenced to 34 life terms with no possibility of parole.
We don’t pretend to grasp the depth of despair facing those who were shot and those who’ve lost a son or daughter, a sister or brother, a grandson or granddaughter, a nephew or niece, and with them, the light in their lives. We grieve with and for them. And it’s terrible they now find themselves in the position of having to help weigh whether someone else should live or die.
But as they wonder how they’ll ever get through tomorrow, the legal process has gotten underway. And unless Satz hears a unified voice from the victims — the same kind of unified voice they mustered in Tallahassee to push passage of an imperfect bill that brought about the state’s first gun restrictions in decades — it’s our opinion the state attorney will wholeheartedly pursue the death penalty, as he regularly does, and “let the jury decide.” close.”
Within days of the massacre, Finkelstein surprised the nation by announcing his client would plead guilty in return for taking the death penalty off the table.
“You’re never going to hear us say he’s not guilty,” Finkelstein told us. “But we can’t walk in and say ‘guilty,’ because the next thing you know, he’s executed. It would be malpractice to plead guilty. But we’re not going to insult people’s intelligence and say he’s not guilty.”
So at Wednesday’s arraignment, Cruz stood mute when asked his plea. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer entered a “not guilty” plea on his behalf.
Finkelstein wants to be respectful of the families. That’s why you don’t see anyone from his office on television. “I do not want to be in the living rooms of these victims’ families. The last thing they want is to hear from the lawyer representing the person who killed their child.”
The case has rocked the public defender’s office, too. “There’s so much pain here, I can’t get through it without crying. I have conversations with my lawyers. We’re crying. We’re shaking. Everybody is shaken. This is an awful thing. … When I go home every night and sit in my TV room with my wife, and my daughter calls, there’s a hole in my soul because I know they’re not getting that phone call.”
“He’s a severely broken human. He’s not right. He’s not insane. He’s not incompetent. But there’s mental health stuff going on there, make no mistake about it,” Finkelstein says. “The kid doesn’t look up. He looks shell-shocked, totally depressed. I can’t imagine what’s going on inside his head at this point.” for ever and ever, and let them begin to pick up the pieces and build some kind of future. It’s a decision that’s very heavy, that only the victims’ families can answer.”
After the Aurora trial, a grandfather spoke for those who wanted the death penalty. He said the imposition of a life sentence made the family’s “gaping wound” even worse. “The thought that this monster gets to have visitation with his parents and gets to receive mail and pictures … is hard to accept.”
Cruz is getting mail, too, including fan letters from teenage girls. “He’s famous,” Finkelstein says. “They want to be connected to him. They’re star-struck. I’m ready to call the parents and say, ‘You need to know what your daughters are doing.’ ”
“There’s an evil in this case and the longer we keep it alive, the more it grows,” he adds. “The quicker we kill this case, the better for all of us.”