On Oct.13, the Jury sentenced Nikolas Cruz, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter, to life in prison without parole for 17 counts of murder and attempted murder. 

Four years prior, Cruz opened fire on Feb. 14 at Stoneman Douglas. The shooting is deemed one of the deadliest shootings nationwide. 14 students and three staff members lost their lives, with the family and friends of those involved left grieving.

During the trial, the fate of Cruz’s life was in the hands of a 12-person jury. After hearing the prosecutors’ and defense attorneys’ final statements on Oct.10, the jury spent the next 2 days reaching their verdict. The deliberation for the verdict took around seven hours.

Out of the 12 jurors, three of them sentenced Cruz to life in prison without parole in the final verdict. Since the vote was not unanimous Cruz avoided the death penalty.