Jury Selection Process Underway For Parkland Shooter's Sentencing Trial

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The jury selection process got underway Monday for the sentencing trial of Parkland school gunman Nikolas Cruz.

The selected 12 jurors will determine whether he receives life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

"In these situations, you have to find out whether or not people are going to be able to sit in the ultimate judgment," said attorney David Weinstein, a former state and federal prosecutor.

He said this is just the beginning of what will be a long and thorough process.

"What may disqualify a potential juror, is if they say they hold a belief that in any case where someone has killed another individual, they should always be sentenced to death. Or, if they hold a position that says no matter how horrible a crime that's been committed, no matter how many aggravating factors you present to me, I would never recommend that the death penalty be imposed," he explained.

Cruz confessed to killing 17 people when he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018.

He pleaded guilty to the murders last October.

"This phase of the case is not a determination of whether or not he is innocent or guilty," said Weinstein. "He's already admitted that he is guilty of these crimes. What they're considering now is trying to decide what the punishment should be that will be imposed on him. So the fact that they know something about this case doesn't automatically disqualify them."

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But it will be up to jurors during the penalty phase to decide whether he dies for his crimes.

Debbi Hixon's husband, Chris, a coach at the school, was one of the victims.

"We were supposed to start jury selection in January. It's always 'oh, but-- oh, but...'" she said. "It's always in the future, so to be starting jury selection, to know the trial is finally going to start, is—I don't know if relief is the right word— but a move in the right direction."

"This is a person who doesn't deserve one more ounce of energy from our community," she added. "He wanted to be infamous, right? So, here he is. I just hope they are open minded about the death penalty."

Under Florida law, all 12 jurors have to unanimously agree before the defendant is sentenced to death.

Attorneys are planning to qualify 20 jurors.

Once they seat a jury of 12 with eight alternates, the trial itself will begin. That date is determined by how long jury selection takes.

The selection process is likely to last several weeks.