FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors spent a number of hours Tuesday attempting to show Florida faculty shooter Nikolas Cruz purposely did poorly on checks administered to see if he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum dysfunction, the first purpose his attorneys say he murdered 17 individuals 4 years in the past.
However after presenting dozens of charts exhibiting the outcomes of IQ checks and different examinations and lengthy explanations of averages and customary deviations that even had the decide joking she understood why some jurors had been ingesting robust Cuban espresso, assistant prosecutor Jeff Marcus pulled his trump card.
He turned to the only check given to Cruz: How briskly can the confessed killer faucet his dominant left index finger?
Throughout checks administered earlier this 12 months by consultants his attorneys employed, Cruz averaged 22 faucets in 10 seconds. Prosecution neuropsychologist Robert Denney mentioned the typical male scores 51 on that check and a 22 could be a rating solely somebody with a extreme mind harm that causes bodily stiffness would tally.
Marcus then performed a cellphone video snippet from the Feb. 14, 2018, bloodbath at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive College that recorded Cruz firing his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle 20 occasions in seven seconds that included a one-second pause — every shot required a separate set off pull. He then confirmed safety video of Cruz easily turning and firing two pictures right into a coach who tried to cease him and one other of him rapidly eradicating his gun’s journal and reloading a brand new one.
An individual who genuinely scored so poorly on the finger tapping check “wouldn’t be capable to pull the set off like that,” Denney mentioned, nor would he be capable to hearth and reload in a single movement like he did.
Cruz, 24, pleaded responsible a 12 months in the past to the murders of 14 college students and three workers members — the trial will solely resolve whether or not he’s sentenced to dying or life with out the opportunity of parole. A unanimous vote by the seven-man, five-woman jury is required for Cruz to get dying. Something much less and his sentence might be life.
Lead prosecutor Mike Satz hopes Denney’s testimony will rebut the protection’s competition that heavy ingesting by Cruz’s start mom throughout being pregnant put him on a lifelong path of weird and generally violent conduct that culminated within the shootings. The protection additionally tried to point out that his adoptive mom, Lynda Cruz, turned overwhelmed after her husband died when Cruz was 5 and by no means acquired him full therapy for his psychological well being points. She died lower than three months earlier than the shootings.
Denney, who does contract work for the federal jail system, testified Tuesday that he disagrees with the protection consultants’ competition that Cruz suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum dysfunction. The Missouri practitioner mentioned the previous Stoneman Douglas scholar’s IQ scores of about 90 and the outcomes of checks given him after the assault don’t assist that analysis.
“Mr. Cruz’s scores are precisely what we might count on for one who doesn’t have any fetal alcohol issues,” Denney mentioned.
Denney might be cross-examined by Cruz’s attorneys on Thursday. Court docket is not going to be in session Wednesday due to Yom Kippur. The prosecution is anticipated to complete its rebuttal case within the coming days with closing arguments and deliberations scheduled for subsequent week.
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