The man charged as the Parkland mass shooter is in court Monday. Nikolas Cruz faces 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder after allegedly opening fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 14.
The defense and prosecutors are fighting over whether his statement to investigations should be released to the public. The state argues it should. The defense argues that this could taint jurors’ decision-making. Florida law dictates that most evidence be made public after prosecutors give it to the defense.
Cruz’s legal team doesn’t dispute what happened, but they argue that he will only plead guilty if the death sentence is taken off the table.
17 people died that day: 14-year-old student Alyssa Alhadeff, 35-year-old teacher Scott Beigel, 14-year-old student Martin Duque Anguiano, 17-year-old student Nicholas Dworet, 37-year-old assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 14-year-old student Jaime Guttenberg, 49-year-old athletic director Christopher Hixon, 15-year-old student Luke Hoyer, 14-year-old student Cara Loughran, 14-year-old student Gina Montalto, 17-year-old student Joaquin Oliver, 14-year-old student Alaina Petty, 18-year-old student Meadow Pollack, 17-year-old student Helena Ramsay, 14-year-old student Alexander Schachter, 16-year-old student Carmen Schentrup, and 15-year-old student Peter Wang.