FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A photograph showed an etched swastika on the AR-15 rifle that detectives said Nikolas Cruz used during the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The investigation also revealed Cruz displayed swastikas on his boots and a racial slur on his backpack. On the internet, he searched for mass killings and child pornography, and he shared animal abuse on social media, prosecutors said.
Cruz’s lead defense attorney, Melisa McNeill, asked Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to keep this evidence away from the 12 jurors and 10 alternates who will serve in the upcoming death penalty trial.
“There is no evidence that these crimes were sexually or racially motivated, the only purpose the State could have in presenting such evidence would be to inflame the jury,” Cruz’s defense attorneys wrote in a motion.
Scherer considered the motion during a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale. Prosecutors argued that introducing the evidence during the death penalty trial is necessary to disprove the defense’s claim of Cruz’s intellectual disability.
“It is not a pretty picture; it is an ugly picture, but that is who the defendant is,” Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus said during the hearing.
The prosecution’s witness, Michael Brannon, a Coral Springs-based forensic psychologist, said he reviewed the records in the case and the evidence suggests a diagnosis of mental disorders.
Marcus asked Brannon to read a list of Cruz’s internet searches. It included “little girls rape porn” and “Hitler birthday.”
Brannon said, “the best description” of Cruz is an anti-social personality disorder, which he said displays “a lack of any sort of empathy or remorse for other people” with “a level of aggressivity as well.”
Brannon also said Cruz exhibited symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD; an eating disorder; a learning disability; and borderline personality disorder, or BPD.
Cruz, Brannon said, “has this voice that is an alter ego — that is swastika.” Brannon told a defense attorney he didn’t think the school shooting was racially motivated.
Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in October. Last week, Scherer said she wants the trial to begin on July 18.
The jury must decide if he deserves to be executed for the crimes that he committed at his former school when he was 19 years old. Without a unanimous decision, Scherer will only be able to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
12 p.m. report
The 12 jurors
Juror 1 is a man who works as an information technology analyst for a city in Miami-Dade County. He said he owns one handgun. He also said his brother is a police officer and his mother is a licensed mental health counselor.
Juror 2 is a man who works as a financial sector executive. He moved to Florida from Boston about a year ago, and he has about two decades of experience in his field. He served in the French military and doesn’t own a handgun.
Juror 3 is a man who works as a probation officer. He also has experience as a paralegal executive assistant for a personal injury firm. He doesn’t own a handgun.
Juror 4 is a man who works as a stocking supervisor for Walmart. He said his cousin was in a class with Cruz before the shooting. He said his uncle is a psychologist.
Juror 5 is a man who works as a computer technician in Miami-Dade County. He said he has more than 10 years of experience in his field and has serviced law firms. He is a father of three.
Juror 6 is a woman who works as a medical claims adjuster in Miami-Dade County. She has also worked in banking and in the office of a criminal defense attorney.
Juror 7 is a woman who has worked as a librarian for about four years. She has also worked in purchasing for the city of Coconut Creek, in a church, and in banking as a consumer lender. She said she has benefited from mental health counseling in the past.
Juror 8 is a woman who works in human resources and has about two decades of experience. She said she worked as an X-ray technician when she lived in Michigan and was in college. She moved to Broward County in 2019. She is a board member of Mental Health America of Southeast Florida, a non-profit organization. She owns a handgun.
Juror 9 is a woman who works as a legal assistant and has experience with prosecutors. She said she has considered going to law school. She said she has benefited from mental health counseling.
Juror 10 is a man who has worked as an immigration officer since 2018. He said he served in the U.S. military from 2013 to 2016 and then took time off to do “hippie stuff.”
“I have done a dozen qualification events but, outside the range, I haven’t used weapons,” he said in court during attorneys’ one-on-one interviews.
Juror 11 is a man who works for a family business involving exports. He said he earned a college degree in music and worked as a project manager until the pandemic disrupted the industry.
Juror 12 is a woman who works as a senior compliance investigator for a medical device firm. She said she has worked in finance and accounting. Her father was a police chief.
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