Parkland trial: Nikolas Cruz spared death penalty, grieving parents react

"I could not be more disappointed," dad Fred Guttenberg said after court.

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury for carrying out the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed 17 lives.

Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection to the Feb. 14, 2018, killing of 14 students and three staff members at his former school. Among the victims were 15-year-old Peter Wang, an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet who died while helping classmates escape, and 35-year-old Scott Beigel, a geography teacher who was shot dead while shepherding students to safety in his classroom.

This penalty phase trial was to determine if Cruz would be sentenced to death or life in prison for the massacre he committed at age 19.


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Prosecutor hopes decision brings ‘some measure of finality’

Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said that during the trial prosecutors didn't shy "away from telling all of the horror, all of the loss, all of the devastation, all of the pain, all of the facts, all of the truth.”

“We hope that, while there is no such thing as closure, this will bring some measure of finality and justice to this terrible chapter,” Pryor said.

“The parents and families of the schoolchildren and the staff members who were massacred lost so much and our hearts are with them,” Pryor said. “We hope they know that all of us lost 17 wonderful people that day and that our world is a poorer and sadder place without them. To the survivors, please know that you are not forgotten in this and that we respect and salute your courage in all that you have endured.”


Fred Guttenberg: ‘Jury failed our families’

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the massacre, said after court, "I'm not often stunned, but I am stunned by this verdict today."

"I could not be more disappointed," he said.

“I don't know how this jury came to the conclusions that they did," he said.

“This decision today only makes it more likely that the next mass shooting will be attempted,” he said.

Guttenberg said he thinks the next mass shooter is planning his attack now, and "that person now believes that they can get away with it."

“There are 17 victims that did not receive justice today,” Guttenberg said. “This jury failed our families today. But I will tell you: The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others. … He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”


Victim's dad: Cruz 'did not deserve compassion'

Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was killed, called the jury’s decision a “gut punch.”

“Pressing the barrel of his weapon to my daughter's chest. That doesn't outweigh [that Nikolas Cruz] had a tough upbringing?” Montalto said.

“Society has to really look and reexamine who and what is a victim. Not everyone's a victim. My beautiful Gina. the other sons, daughters, spouses and fathers -- they were the victims here. Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “Not as an act of revenge, but to protect our nation's schools.”

“I think that it puts all school children in jeopardy. It certainly sends the wrong message,” he continued. “This shooter did not deserve compassion.”


Dad of slain 14-year-old: Cruz ‘got everything he wanted’

Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed, tweeted that Nikolas Cruz “got everything he wanted” with the life sentence verdict.

"Prior to the shooting the Parkland murderer said he wanted to kill 20 people. He stopped after killing 17 including my sweet little boy Alex. Afterwards he didn’t want to die,” Schachter tweeted.

Meanwhile, “Our loved ones are in the cemetery.”


Dad says sentence sends bad message to killers

Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was among the victims, told ABC News Live he had hoped for the death penalty.

"Even the death penalty was not enough for me," he said. "The way that Joaquin died ... the amount of suffering and pain, the shooter will have never received that punishment."

"But now I have to deal with the fact that this guy ... is going to have a chance to have a hobby, and enjoy three meals and, you know, read every single day. I don't like that. I hope that justice appears in any way at some point."

Oliver chose not to attend the trial alongside his wife. He has not decided if he'll go to court on Nov. 1 when victims are given the opportunity to read statements.

"I might need to do that, but I don't know," he said. "I don't want to spend more time thinking about this horrendous person, this monster."

Oliver wrote on Twitter that the sentence sends a bad message to killers.

"It's a very bad precedent for the whole nation," he added to ABC News.

His wife, Patricia Oliver, told ABC News she feels enraged, and said her son did not get justice.

To jury members who voted against the death penalty, she said, "They have to live with that in their conscience. Life is about karma. They will remember what they did when the time comes."