• Nikolas Cruz is accused of murdering 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
• His attorneys claim that his traumatic upbringing caused his “brain was irreparably shattered”.
• The case is the bloodiest mass shooting case in US history to go to a jury trial.

Nikolas Cruz, 23, admitted culpability last year to the murder of 17 people on February 14, 2018, at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

A Florida school shooter’s attorneys have pleaded with a jury to absolve them of capital punishment, claiming that because of his traumatic upbringing, his “brain was irreparably shattered.”

Whether he is executed or sentenced to life in prison will be decided during the trial.

The case is the bloodiest mass shooting case in US history to go to a jury trial.

Leading Cruz attorney Melisa McNeil claimed on Monday that Cruz’s exposure to drugs and alcohol while in his mother’s womb contributed to the slaughter.

She described him as a “damaged person” and described his run-ins with school administrators and police officers throughout his upbringing in an adopted household. “Because of that, his brain was irretrievably broken, through no fault of his own,” she said.

The jury, made up of 10 alternate jurors, 7 men, 5 women, and Ms. McNeil, was instructed, “We must understand the person behind the crime.”

Danielle Woodard, Cruz’s half-sister, also stated during her testimony that her mother used drugs while the prospective school shooter was growing inside of “her contaminated womb.” According to the Miami Herald, she said that her mother had told her that she had been raped.

Ms. Woodard, who is also facing a carjacking allegation in court, called their mother “awful.” She was getting ready to testify on Monday when her half-brother nodded at her from the opposite side of the court.

Prosecutors said that the defendant deserved to die when the trial started on July 18 because of the “goal-directed, premeditated, systematic murder – mass murder – of 14 kids, an athletic director, a teacher, and a coach.”

The attacker can be seen casually getting a drink from a local shop minutes after the carnage, and he subsequently attacks a guard in jail, according to video evidence handed to the jury that includes graphic footage of the crime site.

They were also led to the walled-off school building, where they were shown the crime scene reconstruction. Cruz fired about 150 bullets from a semi-automatic weapon inside the freshman building while Valentine’s Day balloons and cards were still lying around.

Ms. McNeil claimed in her defence that the seven-minute atrocity had its roots in a drug-addicted prostitute who worked for her client’s mother years ago.

On Monday, a recovered drug user who claimed to have performed prostitution services for Cruz’s deceased birth mother, Brenda Woodard, in the 1990s while she was carrying the child served as the first defence witness.

According to Carolyn Deakins, Woodard used cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol while she was pregnant, but “she didn’t care” since she intended to place the child for adoption.

Cruz’s new mother, Lynda Cruz, allegedly neglected issues he was having in school and his adoptive father, who passed away shortly after Cruz entered the home.

Ms. McNeil claimed in her defence that the seven-minute atrocity had its roots in a drug-addicted prostitute who worked for her client’s mother years ago.

On Monday, a recovered drug user who claimed to have performed prostitution services for Cruz’s deceased birth mother, Brenda Woodard, in the 1990s while she was carrying the child served as the first defence witness.

According to Carolyn Deakins, Woodard used cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol while she was pregnant, but “she didn’t care” since she intended to place the child for adoption.

Cruz’s new mother, Lynda Cruz, allegedly neglected issues he was having in school and his adoptive father, who passed away shortly after Cruz entered the home.

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