Editing Nikolas Cruz (section)

==Sentence==
He was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, which carried a possible death penalty conviction. After his arraignment, he was held in an isolated cell on suicide watch.

Some prosecutors were seeking to have him be punished by the death penalty.

Cruz was to go on trial in January 2020, but the trial was delayed to summer 2020 to give the defense more time to prepare. In June 2020, the trial was delayed again because of concerns about COVID-19 and will likely be delayed until 2021.

On October 20 2021, Cruz plead guilty to the 17 counts. He had initially pleaded not guilty to all of the crimes, but his attorneys recently said they would not contest his guilt. Instead, the group of public defenders who represent Cruz had asked the court to sentence him to 17 life sentences.

On October 13 2022, the jury returned a verdict of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for Nikolas Cruz on a vote on 9 for the death penalty and 3 against it. The jury recommended this sentencing for him based on past records detailing his biological mother’s use of alcohol and illicit drugs during pregnancy and failure by the state and the school and other sources to get him proper treatment. However, many of the victims’ families as well as the prosecution, many politicians and even state governor [[Ron Desantis]] were angered with the jury’s decision.

On November 2, 2022, Cruz was officially sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences, 17 of them without the possibility of parole plus a minimum of 380 years, one each for the total number of victims murdered and wounded by Cruz.<ref>[https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/parkland-shooter-nikolas-cruz-sentencing-11-02-2022/index.html Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz formally sentenced], ''CNN''</ref>