Jury selection for Parkland shooting death penalty trial begins

Nearly six months after pleading guilty to the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz began with jury selection. The video above includes video from jury selection Monday. Since Cruz already pleaded guilty, the purpose of the trial is only to determine whether Cruz should get the death penalty or life without parole.

Jury selection is expected to be a lengthy process. Court officials have said 1,500 candidates or more could be brought before Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer over the next couple months.

The first group of 60 potential jurors were asked Monday if the trial, which is expected to last from June to September, interfered with their schedules. The 18 who said they could make the trial will be brought back in several weeks for more questioning. They will be asked whether they can judge the case fairly and if they can vote for the death penalty if the evidence supports that verdict. Those who can’t will be dismissed.

In order for Cruz to get the death penalty, the jury must unanimously agree that aggravating factors such as the number of people he killed, his planning and his cruelty outweigh such mitigating factors as his lifelong mental illness and the death of his parents.

Two other groups were expected to be screened Monday. It was unclear how large those groups were.

The start of Cruz’s death penalty trial officially makes the Parkland shooting the deadliest U.S. mass shooting to go to trial. The other people who fatally shot 17 or more people died during or immediately after their attacks, either by suicide or at the hands of police.

However, another trial may become the deadliest shooting to go to trial in the near future. Patrick Crusius, the suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart is still awaiting trial.