High school shooting suspect would plead guilty to avoid death penalty: Defense attorney

[DonViejo]

Source: ABC News




By JOSH MARGOLIN and EMILY SHAPIRO
Feb 16, 2018, 6:29 PM ET

A lawyer for Nikolas Cruz, the young man accused of gunning down 17 people at a Florida high school, told ABC News he is willing to have his client plead guilty immediately in return for the prosecution agreeing to take the death penalty off the table.

Cruz, 19, would instead have a life sentence, said Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein.

Finkelstein told ABC News in a detailed phone interview that his decision is based on the reality that the facts are not in question and that Cruz’s alleged crimes occurred after an apparent series of breakdowns of systems like law enforcement, social services and education.

Finkelstein said he has not yet notified prosecutors of his offer but plans to this weekend.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/high-school-shooting-suspect-plead-guilty-elude-death/story?id=53153672

[UpInArms]

1. So glad he would rather stay alive ... just wish he had been as gracious to those 17 souls

🤬🤬🤬🤬

[LisaM]

2. That's a good thing.

I'm glad they didn't kill him. I want him to be evaluated as thoroughly as possible. How can we ever move to prevent these shootings in the future without the fullest possible understanding of what causes them?

[Sienna86]

6. I agree.

While this is a gun issue, I believe this is also a people issue. What help was available to him?

[LonePirate]

3. If he is not isolated in prison, he will be murdered once he's inside.

His days as a member of the living are likely numbered regardless.

[WhiteTara]

4. Since he thrust death so suddenly on others

I'm not surprised that he cowardly makes a deal not to die. I hope that plea deal comes with no chance of parole.

[rainin]

5. I can't imagine facing that choice.

I believe I would choose the death penalty. I wouldn't want to live my entire life in a prison. So sad for all.

[christx30]

20. Know how one can avoid having to make that choice?

Don't murder people. I have no pity for him.
I hope he doesn't get the death penalty. I hope in 40 years, he's still alive, in his cage. No career, no family. Hated by so many people. I hope he's nice and healthy, looking back at what his life could have been. Knowing it was all a waste.
He's very young. Still has many years to look back on his actions he can't take back, and regret. I hope it drives him insane.

[rainin]

22. I didn't mean to sound empathetic to him. Yes, he deserves to think about this until he takes

his last breath. It's my instinct to think "if it were me" and I would choose death.

I heard, that even a life sentence could end in release at some point. From the community's standpoint, I wonder if his death would be easier for the (living) victims and the families.

[MicaelS]

7. Life with no parole in solitary 23/7 sounds good to me.

Not wasting any money on a trial.

[Aristus]

11. Solitary? Are you kidding? GenPop!

If he is ever going to feel even one iota of the fear those students felt, either as survivors, or right before they died, he should experience GenPop, where he will have no AR-15 to make himself feel tough.

[MicaelS]

12. Nope, I want him to rot in prison.

Let him know he is facing 60+ years in a concrete box.

[Aristus]

13. I agree with you 100%.

I don't want him to be killed, or even harmed in some nasty, permanent fashion.

I just want him to feel fear.

Not the abstract and rather pathetic fear all losers like him feel.

But real, immediate, concrete, persistent, grinding, debilitating fear.

For the rest of his miserable life.

[DrDan]

17. bring back the rack!!!!

[keithbvadu2]

8. Timothy McVeigh wanted death; to be a martyr for his people and their cause.

Timothy McVeigh wanted death; to be a martyr for his people and their cause.

He had no qualms about killing babies and innocents.

[getagrip_already]

9. not much of a choice...

Prosecutors already have a confession, and there is a LOT of evidence it was him.

There is probably little doubt he will be convicted.

The only question is will the prosecutor grant the deal? Probably not. The crazies are calling for blood.

It would be political suicide for a prosecutor to grant life, given some families will object to it. The only reason I could think of to do it is to spare witnesses the ordeal of trial.

More likely they are positioning for the capitol phase of sentencing. They need to convince jurors to be unsure about the death penalty. This move can help with that - he was remorseful and offered to plead guilty......

[mokawanis]

10. Why wouldn't the atty go for ngri?

If he's found not guilty by reason of insanity could he be sentenced to life in a psychiatric facility?

[moriah]

23. Because he's not that type of crazy.

Guy with bipolar disorder goes off meds, gets manic psychosis, has diaries saying he's heard people standing outside his house from his old school saying they've going to kill him, shoots it up? That might be insanity defense.

No evidence of anything of the sort here.

Best chance he has is pleading to get death off the table.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Put his ass under a microscope. Find out how this kind of poison grows.

Find all the people that fomented and encouraged it along the way.

[spiderpig]

15. 19-year-olds think they are invincible

but this guy's character has been set for life. He has no place in civilized society.

I don't know where to park him. I don't think he can ever be rehabilitated to any degree. I guess we just warehouse him for the next 60 years. Whatever happens there he deserves.

[CountAllVotes]

16. Another Charles Manson

Will he live to be 80+ years old too?

The amount of money that will be forked out to house this POS as he schemes away in prison sickens me.

I do not wish him well.

That is all I can say.

[malthaussen]

18. Fine, save the state the expense of a trial...

... and the resultant media circus. 17 consecutive life sentences would take parole out of the question, too, wouldn't it?

I wonder how mass murderers of children get along in the general prison population? They don't like child abusers, one might expect that murderers are also not very popular.

-- Mal

[csziggy]

21. Plus, save the countless appeals for parole

Lock him up and let experts study him. Otherwise, let society forget his name.

[Cold War Spook]

19. I do not believe in the death penalty.

Woops, just changed my mind.