Florida: Defense motions to be heard in Parkland shooting case

Numerous defense motions are set to be heard in relation to the 21-year-old man, Nikolas Cruz, for taking the lives of 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida in the year 2018. According to reports, two court hearings have been set for November 1 for Nikolas, who will be awarded the death sentence if he is found to be guilty of his crimes. He faces 17 first-degree charges and 17 attempted murder charges.

The court hearings have been scheduled in order to stop the prosecutors from seeking a death sentence against Kruz and also to dismiss the allegations of attempted battery against a corrections officer after the Parkland shootings. Cruz's legal representatives have stated that he will plead guilty to the crimes in order to appeal for a life sentence but the prosecutors have declined the offer.

Civil lawsuits

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings resulted in a lot of civil lawsuits that included a case of negligence that was filed by a victim's family against Broward County's sheriff's deputy officer, Scot Peterson, for not confronting the gunman at the right time. 

People who survived the shooting along with the families of the victims have sued Nikolas Cruz, the family he was living with when he opened fire at the school alongside three mental organizations who took the task of evaluating Nikolas, maker of the AR-15 rifle used by the shooter.

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas public safety commission

The 15-member safety commission was criticized after formulating a controversial recommendation to prevent future school shootings. The recommendation stated that all those teachers who volunteer, pass their respective background checks and are a part of extensive training, should be given the clearance to carry hidden handguns. The commission argued that it was necessary for the teachers to have these handguns because waiting for the police forces to arrive would give more time to the shooters to kill more people. 

The safety commission's arguments were countered by Florida teachers union and the state PTA wherein they said that the teachers should not take on the task of being a security guard and having more live weapons on campus will increase the danger of such incidents. 

The commission consisted of law enforcement, education, and mental health experts and the fathers of two children who had lost their lives in the shootings.

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting

On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz opened fire with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, taking the lives of 17 people and injuring 17 others. The former student escaped the crime scene by mixing in the crowd of the fleeing students. 

The Parkland shooting was tagged as the worst school shooting in the history of the United States. The shooting took place at a time of public support for gun control that came after the shootings in Las Vegas and Texas shootings that took place in the month of October and November 2017.

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(With inputs from agencies)