Jury selection begins Monday for the trial in the killing of 17 people at a school in the Parkland community in Florida.
Nikolas Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to the Feb. 14, 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, for which the jury will only decide whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison.
Some 1,500 candidates might be considered in the coming weeks to serve as jurors in the trial, which will be presided over by Judge Elizabeth Scherer, court officials say.
The process seeks to elect 12 jurors and eight alternates.
It is the deadliest massacre to lead to a judicial process in the United States.
In the history of the country, seven other people who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately following the event, either by suicide or shot by the police. The man suspected of killing 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 is still awaiting trial.
Trials to decide on the death penalty in the United States usually take regarding two years to start due to their complexity, but Cruz’s was delayed even longer due to the pandemic and lengthy legal proceedings.
Tony Montalto, who lost his 14-year-old daughter, Gina, in the massacre, said: “We have waited a long time for this day.”
“I only hope that everyone remembers the victims,” he said.
Cruz, she said, “announced to the whole world what he was going to do, he said it on social media, he executed his plan in a cold and calculated manner and murdered my beautiful daughter, 13 of her classmates and three of her teachers.”
Parents and partners of the victims who have spoken publicly have come out in favor of Cruz receiving the death penalty. Montalto has not responded directly to the question, but has said on multiple occasions that Cruz “deserves every chance to live that he gave Gina and her other victims of hers.”
