Two lawyers representing Nikolas Cruz, confessed author of the Parkland shooting, did not avoid crying in the middle of the testimonies of the parents of the victims while they read their impact statements during the court this Tuesday.
Assistant public defenders Tamara Curtis and Nawal Najet Bashiman had to remove their face masks to wipe their eyes with tissues while sitting next to their client during depositions, the New York Post reported.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever find real peace,” said Tom Hoyer, father of murdered Luke Hoyer, aged 14 . “It is unbearable agony. I’m heartbroken. A piece of my heart is missing. My life and my family will never be the same”.
Luke Hoyer was one of the 17 people killed by Cruz during the massacre of 2018 in February at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Lawyer Bashima also cried during the testimony of Fred Guttenberg, father of Jaime Guttenberg, aged 14, who died in the shooting, the outlet previously added cited.
Curtis requested last year that the victim’s statements only be read in court, arguing that her statements could “infect the process with unfairness to deny Mr. Cruz due process.” .
The defense also requested that there be only one statement per victim. They also requested that the testimonies be brief and that they be read by a “neutral party”.
The testimonies offered this Tuesday come days after several survivors took the stand and recalled the disturbing events they experienced on February 2018. Some showed their scars from the gunshot wounds they sustained.
Cruz’s defense attorneys are seeking that the members of the jury do not unanimously decide that the confessed author of the massacre receives the death penalty. Instead, they are trying to get him to face only life in prison.
Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 murder charges in first grade in October of 2021.