TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — As judge Elizabeth Scherer read through 17 verdict forms in the Parkland school shooting trial on Thursday, family members of the victims shook their heads, showed signs of disgust, and shed tears.
The jury’s decision, to recommend Nikolas Cruz serve life in prison without parole for the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, came as a shock to many. The 12-person jury had been weighing a death sentence but did not come to the unanimous decision required for that sentence.
Fred Guttenberg reacts as he awaits a verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Guttenberg’s daughter, Jaime, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz, who plead guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder in the 2018 shootings, is the most lethal mass shooter to stand trial in the U.S. He was previously sentenced to 17 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 17 additional counts of attempted murder for the students he injured that day. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Gena Hoyer holds a photograph of her son, Luke, who was killed in the 2018 shootings, as she awaits the verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people. That sentence comes after the jury announced that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Gena Hoyer awaits the verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Hoyer’s son, Luke, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz, who plead guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder in the 2018 shootings, is the most lethal mass shooter to stand trial in the U.S. He was previously sentenced to 17 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 17 additional counts of attempted murder for the students he injured that day. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Mitch and Annika Dworet react as they hear that their son’s murderer will not receive the death penalty as the verdicts are announced in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. The Dworet’s son, Nicholas, was killed, and their other son, Alexander, was injured in the 2018 shootings. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Ilan and Lori Alhadeff, center, react as they hear that their daughter’s murderer will not receive the death penalty as the verdicts are announced in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. The Alhadeff’s daughter, Alyssa, was killed in the 2018 shootings. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Debbie Hixon reaches out to her sister-in-law, Natalie Hixon, as they hear that Debbie Hixon’s husband’s murderer will not receive the death penalty as the verdicts are announced in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Debbie Hixon’s husband and Natalie Hixon’s brother, Christopher Hixon, was killed in the 2018 shootings. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Peter Wang’s mother Hui Wang wipes away a tear after the jury rejected a death sentence for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Peter was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Joaquin Oliver’s sister Andrea Ghersi hugs Assistant State Attorney Nicole Chiappone after the jury rejected a death sentence for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Joaquin Oliver, was killed in the 2018 shootings. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Ryan Petty comforts Ilan Alhadeff as they await the verdict in the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Petty’s daughter, Alaina, and Alhadeff’s daughter, Alyssa, were killed in the 2018 shootings. A jury spared Cruz from the death penalty Thursday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the remainder of his life. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) 
Linda Beigel Schulman, Michael Schulman, Patricia Padauy Oliver and Fred Guttenberg, families of the victims, embrace in the courtroom while waiting for an expected verdict in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)
After the hearing ended, many family members of victims who were killed in the shooting did not hold back their anger at the jury’s decision.
“I’m disgusted with our legal system. I’m disgusted with these jurors,” Dr. Ilan Alhadeff said. “I am disgusted with the system.”
Alhadeff’s daughter, 14-year-old Alyssa, was killed by Cruz.
“I pray that animal suffers every day of his life in jail,” Dr. Alhadeff said.
He and others wondered – if the death penalty could not be applied in this case, then what case can it be applied in?
“Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law. Not as an act of revenge, but to protect our nation’s schools,” said Tony Montalto.
Montalto lost his 14-year-old daughter Gina in the Parkland massacre.
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter Jamie in the shooting, said he hopes Cruz is given no mercy in prison.
“I will tell you, the monster is going to go to prison and I hope and pray he gets the same mercy from other prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others,” said Guttenberg.
