After a Florida grand jury recommended 24-year-old Nikolas Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Parkland school shooting, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer set a sentencing date as November 1.
The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. ET. Victims and family members are expected to speak before sentencing.
Under Florida law, Judge Scherer cannot leave the jury’s motion on life.
Cruz has been on trial for months for the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed, including 14 students and three school staff. He pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors have asked the jury to sentence the gunman, now 24, to death, arguing part of his crimes were particularly heinous or cruel. But without the unanimous recommendation of a jury under Florida law, Cruz’s sentence was defaulted to life in prison, which defense attorneys for the gunman argued, given that Cruz had suffered mental disorders and developmental delays throughout life.
