Mr. Satz, whose state has 347 people on its death row, had no comment beyond the court filing. In a statement last month, though, he said the attack at Stoneman Douglas High “certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for.”
Howard Finkelstein, the public defender for Broward County and one of Mr. Cruz’s lawyers, said Tuesday that Mr. Cruz remained “ready to immediately plead guilty.” Mr. Cruz has chosen to stand mute, which in Florida effectively amounts to a not guilty plea, rather than disputing his guilt in the massacre.
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“We are not saying he is not guilty,” Mr. Finkelstein said, “but we can’t plead guilty while death is still on the table.”
Mr. Cruz has been indicted on 34 counts: 17 of premeditated murder in the first degree, and 17 of attempted murder in the first degree.
Relatively few suspects are ever brought to trial for mass shootings. Among the suspects in the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern American history, only Mr. Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas High student, was apprehended alive.
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