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Life or death for Parkland shooter? Trial will take months

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is shown at the defense table during a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2022. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings.
Amy Beth Bennett/AP Pool
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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is shown at the defense table during a hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2022. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings.

Opening statements are scheduled Monday in Nikolas Cruz's penalty trial. That's four years after Cruz murdered 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history ever to make it to trial is finally about to go before a jury.

Opening statements are scheduled Monday in Nikolas Cruz's penalty trial. That's four years after Cruz murdered 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Prosecutor Mike Satz is expected to focus on the brutality of the 2018 massacre and the victims.

Cruz's attorneys may wait to give their statement until they present their case several weeks from now.

Cruz pleaded guilty, so the jury will only decide whether the 23-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student receives a sentence of death or life without parole.

The trial is expected to last four months.

To read the full story from the Associated Press, click here.

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