The families gave highly emotional statements during the trial, but were restricted about what they could tell jurors.
A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday that will conclude with Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentencing Cruz for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Because the jury at his penalty trialthat the 24-year-old deserved a death sentence, Scherer can only sentence the former Stoneman Douglas student to life without parole — an outcome most of the families criticized.
Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes, whose lawyers represent Cruz, said he has no problem with the families expressing their anger directly to Cruz. firing 140 shots with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms. He fatally shot some wounded victims after they fell. Cruz said he chose Valentine's Day so it could never again be celebrated at Stoneman Douglas.
Ron McAndrew, a former Florida prison warden, believes that because of Cruz's notoriety, officials at that prison will place him in “protective management," separated from other inmates, to keep him from being harmed.