Parkland sentencing: Judge formally sentences shooter to life in prison

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed, chose not to deliver a new statement in court on Tuesday.

He tweeted, “My life is no longer dependent on the outcome of this trial and delivering another impact statement will not make me feel better.”

Guttenberg said the statement he gave earlier during the trial “had to meet legal requirements" and couldn't refer to the crime or "refer to the murderer as a murderer or a killer."

“During the sentencing today, we will be given a chance to make another statement and to say anything that we want. But will it make me feel better? We can say whatever we want to the murderer who committed the crime,” he continued. “I could talk about sitting with the State Attorney last week and finally watching the actual video of Jaime getting shot and how I felt with the way … she made it to within one second of safety, only for him to kill her with a single AR 15 shot.”

"We can say whatever we want to the jurors who made the wrong decision” and “whatever we want to the defense team that gave up its humanity to defend the monster,” Guttenberg wrote.

But with Nikolas Cruz’s fate already decided, “I have no need to think about him or to address him,” Guttenberg said.

“I will think about him only two more times. The first time will be when I sit and watch the formal sentencing. The second time will be when I read news reporting of the prison justice that he will eventually receive,” he said. “Going forward, I plan to focus more on those I love.”

Ellen Mayor read a statement in court on behalf of her daughter, Samantha Mayor, who was shot through the knee and survived.

Samantha Mayor in her statement called the shooting the “most fearful day of my life, when I was laying on the floor unable to move and terrified to speak. I remember accepting my death at that moment and reminding myself that my friends and family know that I love them."

She said she’s afraid of tight spaces, always searches for exits and is startled by noises. Samantha Mayor also said she’s fearful of when she’ll eventually send her own children to school.

“I’ve learned that the beginning of every year brings a lot of heartache for me … for the anniversary of when I saw death before my eyes. Carmen, I think about you every day and it never hurts less,” she said, referring to Carmen Schentrup, 16, who was killed.

She said she’s “devastated” by the life sentence.

“Now we all have to breathe the same air of someone who wanted us to never take another breath,” she said.

Anne Ramsay, mother of 17-year-old victim Helena Ramsay, called Nikolas Cruz “pure evil.”

She said the last text from Helena was a smiley face because she added a cookie into her daughter’s lunch that Valentine’s Day.

Ramsay also slammed the school district and sheriff’s office, who she alleged treated her family differently due to race.

She recalled when a reporter asked her if Cruz would have been shot if he was Black.

If Cruz was Black, Ramsay said, she thinks he would have been stopped before even entering the gate to the school.

“This is how we are treated,” she said.

2:15

Mom of Parkland victim calls Nikolas Cruz ‘pure evil’

Anne Ramsay’s 17-year-old daughter Helena died in the mass shooting at South Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

ABCNews.com

Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son, Alex, was killed, noted on Tuesday that, when families gave statements earlier during the penalty phase trial, they were prohibited from talking about Nikolas Cruz, the crime “and the punishment that he deserves.”

Schachter accused Cruz’s defense attorneys of “making the mental health crisis in America worse by misrepresenting what actually happened to the Parkland murderer.”

“The defense, in their closing argument, said if he had just had the proper diagnosis, things would be different,” Schacter said. “Nothing would’ve changed. … He was on medicine after medicine … and he still wants to kill.”

Cruz grew up “in a loving home” with a mother who tried to help him, Schachter said.

“He had well over 200 individual sessions with mental health professionals. … They tried everything, they couldn’t have given him more services,” Schachter continued.

“But you can’t fix evil,” he said.

“He hunted down innocent children and staff, terrified then tortured them, blew their heads apart like a water balloon and enjoyed it,” Schachter said.

He said Cruz “does not deserve to live amongst us.”

Schachter said, in prison, Cruz “gets to receive phone calls, boxes of fan mail. He gets to fall in love and get married. He gets a tablet to email and text people. He gets to receive visitors. He gets to watch TV … and even get a college degree.”

Schachter noted that today marks his birthday. He said his birthday wish each year will be for Cruz to “suffer a painful, painful violent death.”

After Schachter spoke, Cruz’s attorney said families are sending a bad message by attacking defense lawyers, jurors and the judicial system.