FILE – In this Aug. 15, 2018 file photo, Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz listens during a status check on his case at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cruz is due back in court for a status hearing on his death penalty case. The hearing is set Thursday afternoon, Feb. 21, 2019, in Broward County Circuit Court. Cruz, 20, is accused of killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in last year’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz is due back in court for a status hearing on his death penalty case.
The hearing is set Thursday afternoon in Broward County Circuit Court. A number of matters could come up ranging from the pace of defense interviews of witnesses to a potential setting of a tentative trial date.
The 20-year-old Cruz is accused of killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in last year’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He is also accused of assaulting a jail corrections officer.
Cruz’s attorneys have said he will plead guilty in return for a life prison sentence. Prosecutors have insisted instead on seeking the death penalty.
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