Article

2022-04-05 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz appears in court as jury selection begins for trial to decide whether he will get the death penalty or life in prison

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]

A jury will decide whether Nikolas Cruz,

...diagnoses of autism, anxiety, depression and significant psychological problems, described as a troubled kid obsessed with guns — the police came to the family home frequently to deal with him. Mr. Cruz was adopted at birth, then his adoptive father died when he was young, followed into the grave by his adoptive mother a few months before he ran amok. So really he was a classic school shooter. Interestingly, his biological sister Danielle Woodard, a decade older, also has a long rap sheet and is classified as a habitual violent offender...

23, will be put to death for murdering 17

It is expected to be a two-month process to pick 12 panelists, eight alternates

In October, Cruz pleaded guilty and jurors will only decide on his sentence

The jurors chosen will decide on a death sentence or life without parole

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 What did his victims get?

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-04-05 07:48|| 2022-04-05 07:48|| Front Page Top

#2 The vics all got death. I will say, I am totally against the death penalty for people who fit the clinical and legal definitions of mentally ill. That comes down to did he know what he was doing and did he understand actions have consequences. I'm not qualified to say and if I was, I still have not interviewed him myself. My layman's impression is that he's sane enough to bear responsibility. YMMV.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 07:52|| 2022-04-05 07:52|| Front Page Top

#3 If one has murdered seventeen people, regardless of whether he's mentally ill, it's only sensible to end his life as soon as possible. Or others get the idea that your lives are not worth much.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-04-05 08:04|| 2022-04-05 08:04|| Front Page Top

#4 Pour encourager les autres is good policy.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 08:07|| 2022-04-05 08:07|| Front Page Top

#5 2018...nice of the "system" to finally get around to it.

Posted by DooDahMan 2022-04-05 08:18|| 2022-04-05 08:18|| Front Page Top

#6 Gone are the days of Roy Bean saying, "This morning we are going to give this man a fair trial, and after lunch we are going to hang him."

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 08:25|| 2022-04-05 08:25|| Front Page Top

#7 Yeah, not too hip on the death penalty, but I think in this case, yeah, hang him high!

Posted by DooDahMan 2022-04-05 08:28|| 2022-04-05 08:28|| Front Page Top

#8 When I was a reporter, I covered lots of criminal court, but no death penalty cases. I believe in the death penalty in principle. In practice, I saw too many stupid jurors, drunk court officials and dishonest cops to believe the system was in any way competent to hand anyone a death sentence.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 08:31|| 2022-04-05 08:31|| Front Page Top

#9 Armed judges on motorcycles. With helmets connecting to all perp records. And ammo from armor piercing and flechettes to incendiaries and hi-explosive.

Anybody joining that service, I'd trust with law enforcement totally.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-04-05 08:39|| 2022-04-05 08:39|| Front Page Top

#10 Judge Dredd

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 08:55|| 2022-04-05 08:55|| Front Page Top

#11 When a dog mauls and kills a child, do we really worry about whether the creature understood what it was doing or the proceeding of its disposition?

Posted by Procopius2k 2022-04-05 08:57|| 2022-04-05 08:57|| Front Page Top

#12 Oh, the pit bull apologists come out in droves every time. Makes me ill.

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 08:58|| 2022-04-05 08:58|| Front Page Top

#13 A wild dog attacked me when I was eleven or so. It bit me in the neck, face, arms. Blood all over. My legs shook from fear and shock.

Passersby and my grandpa beat it half to death. Then my grandpa made me hit it too, get the fear out of me. They said I was to deal the killing blow but I couldn't. I just sat and watched the thing die. My blood, its blood. The same color. It was a moment.

Only killed one animal in my life, when I was fifteen. A monkey that was fighting my dog. We killed it together in fact. No guilt.

Posted by Dron66046 2022-04-05 09:14|| 2022-04-05 09:14|| Front Page Top

#14 Some crimes are so horrendous and shock the public to such an extent that the death penalty is the only appropriate sentence. I can think of a few such crimes in our area where the death sentence was the only appropriate sentence. There was no doubt about who did them; they were just vicious horrible crimes. However, endless appeals have dragged out the justice process for 20 years or so. These criminals end up destroying victim and their families' lives forever.

Posted by JohnQC 2022-04-05 09:21|| 2022-04-05 09:21|| Front Page Top

#15 If it's to be done, it must be done in public, so everyone can see. In the movie In Cold Blood, during the hanging scene, one witness asks another "Does anyone know the hangman's name?" The other guy says "Yeah, 'We the people.'"

Posted by M. Murcek 2022-04-05 09:37|| 2022-04-05 09:37|| Front Page Top

#16 A number of readers will have killed better men than he and should have few qualms about putting down a dog that knows or doesn't know he did a bad thing.

Posted by Skidmark 2022-04-05 16:17|| 2022-04-05 16:17|| Front Page Top

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