Nikolas Cruz enters the courtroom for a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, March 29, 2022. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School . FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
The trial will decide whether the aggravating factors of the killings — the multiple deaths, the planning, the cruelty — outweigh mitigating factors such as Cruz's lifelong mental and emotional problems and the death of his parents. Melisa McNeill, Cruz's lead public defender, told Scherer that the building is no longer an accurate representation of what happened because the Broward Sheriff's Office removed personal items without fully logging and photographing them. She gave the court a video her office produced that would show what Cruz saw as he walked the halls, but removes all the blood, Valentine's gifts and other crime scene material. She said showing the jurors that would be a better alternative.
But assistant prosecutor Carolyn McCann told Scherer that no evidence can replace seeing “the carnage” left behind in the school building. Cruz chose to shoot people in the building, she said. He chose to carry out his attack on Valentine's Day. If a tour of the building evokes strong emotions, it was Cruz's own doing, she argued.
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