'I feel betrayed by our justice system' - relatives of Parkland shooting victims speak at sentencing

Record ID: 1696005

  • Title: 'I feel betrayed by our justice system' - relatives of Parkland shooting victims speak at sentencing
  • Date: 1st November 2022
  • Summary: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) GUARDS ESCORTING FLORIDA SCHOOL GUNMAN NIKOLAS CRUZ (IN RED JUMPSUIT) TO HIS SEAT IN COURT CRUZ, LEFT, AND HIS LEGAL TEAM SITTING IN COURT FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) WIDE OF COURT / MEGHAN KELLY, OLDER SISTER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALAINA KELLY, APPROACHING PODIUM KELLY FACING JUDGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEGHAN KELLY, OLDER SISTER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALAINA KELLY, SAYING: “The first major event of my adult life was when I was 19, when my sister was shot to death. And now my early twenties are ending with being told that no justice will be done in her memory, that she died, but it doesn't matter because his life wasn't cupcakes, rainbows and sunshine. He gets daily meals, a roof over his head, and a bed to sleep in now. My sister's body is food for carrion. Her roof is six feet of dirt, and her bed is a coffin.” CRUZ, LEGAL TEAM LISTENING TO KELLY (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEGHAN KELLY, OLDER SISTER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALAINA KELLY, SAYING: “I heavily debated coming to court today to speak for a few reasons. I feel betrayed by our justice system. I've put myself in a very vulnerable position by coming in and sharing about my pain, which I'm very private about, and telling everybody how much I suffered, which I tried to put aside to honor a lateness, memory, and I feel it ended up accomplishing nothing here. My main reason, though, for not wanting to speak was that I didn't want to give you [Cruz] the opportunity to enjoy more of our family's suffering, which you've admitted that you wanted to see. This entire ordeal has pushed me to my emotional, physical, and mental limits and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, even more so now that he has escaped being managed to the fullest extent of the law, as I believe he should have been, knowing he gets to live out the rest of his natural life, something Alaina doesn't get to do.” WIDE OF VICTIMS’ FAMILIES IN COURT DEFENSE LAWYERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PATRICIA PADAUY-OLIVER, MOTHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM JACQUIN OLIVER, SAYING: “I am broken. I am broken. I am broken. I am broken, I am broken, and I am broken. You are all in the same thing, because all of us, now, we are broken.” CRUZ LISTENING INEZ HIXON, DAUGHTER-IN LAW OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM CHRISTOPHER HIXON, WALKING TO PODIUM WITH HER HUSBAND THOMAS HIXON (SOUNDBITE) (English) INEZ HIXON, DAUGHTER-IN LAW OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM CHRISTOPHER HIXON, SAYING: “I wish no peace for you. I wish nothing but pain. And I hope that every breath you take, you remember that that’s a breath you stole. You stole Chris from us. But we will honor his memory every single day.” HIXON AND HUSBAND FACING JUDGE VARIOUS OF HIXON, HUSBAND RETURNING TO SEAT MAX SCHACHTER, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALEX SCHACHTER, APPROACHING PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAX SCHACHTER, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALEX SCHACHTER, SAYING: “This wasn't somebody that fell off, that fell through the cracks, and you know it. Or got lost in the system. They tried, but they could not change his determination to inflict pain upon everything that it touched, whether it was animals or humans. He is a sociopath that does not deserve to live amongst us. This creature, that creature has no redeemable value. And the other prisoners that you will encounter in your new life will inflict that pain upon you, hopefully 17 times over again until you're screaming for mercy, just like your victims.” (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAX SCHACHTER, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM ALEX SCHACHTER, SAYING: “Today is my birthday. Just now, I want you to know that every November 1st, I will be celebrating my birthday while you are in prison. And every November 1st, I will be blowing out my birthday candles. And, you know what my wish will be? That you suffer a painful, painful, violent death.” CRUZ LISTENING SCHACHTER RETURNING TO SEAT FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 1, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) BACKS OF PROSECUTION TEAM, SITTING FACING JUDGE AND FRONT OF COURTROOM COURT STANDING, EXITING FOR RECESS VARIOUS OF VICTIMS' RELATIVES COMFORTING ONE ANOTHER
  • Embargoed: 15th November 2022 18:58
  • Keywords: Florida Nikolas Cruz Parkland death penalty life in prison parole school shooting sentencing
  • Location: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • City: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA001616001112022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Grieving relatives of the 17 students and teachers killed in a 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, confronted the killer, Nikolas Cruz, with tearful, angry words as his sentencing hearing began on Tuesday (November 1).
    "I wish no peace for you," Inez Hixon, daughter-in-law of shooting victim Christopher Hixon, said in emotional testimony. "I wish nothing but pain. And I hope that every breath you take you remember that's a breath that you stole.
    At the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday (November 2), Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer is due to sentence Cruz, 24, to life in prison without possibility of parole, a sentence decided by a jury. The jury voted to spare Cruz from the death penalty for one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, a decision several survivors' relatives decried in court as injustice.
    “I feel betrayed by our justice system,” said Meghan Kelly, whose younger sister Alaina Kelly, died in the attack. “This entire ordeal has pushed me to my emotional, physical, and mental limits and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, even more so now that he (Cruz) has escaped being managed to the fullest extent of the law, as I believe he should have been, knowing he gets to live out the rest of his natural life, something Alaina doesn't get to do.”
    Cruz pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder. He listened to the victim impact statements at a table in the courtroom, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, large spectacles and a COVID-19 mask.
    Many family members who sat through the three-month penalty trial said they were dismayed by the jury's decision to recommend life in prison without possibility of parole instead of the death penalty for Cruz. Florida law requires that Scherer must follow the jury's recommendation in formally sentencing Cruz.
    Cruz was 19 at the time of his attack and had been expelled from the school. Some of the survivors went on to organize a youth-led movement for tighter gun regulations in the United States, which has the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world and where mass shootings have become recurrent.
    (Production: Maria Alejandra Cardona, Christine Kiernan)
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