Nikolas Cruz showed little emotion as the judge read the jury’s decisions one by one. His victims’ families, in contrast, were horrified and baffled as they learned that his life had been spared.
Reasons to show a defendant mercy include extreme mental or emotional disturbance, as well as a broad consideration of “factors in the defendant’s background.”
James Coddington, who was convicted of murdering a co-worker with a hammer, is the first of 25 men the state is aiming to execute over the next 28 months.
Abu-Jamal, convicted of the 1981 murder of a police officer, became the face of the anti-death penalty movement and a widely published commentator on the prison system.
They were the country’s first executions in more than 30 years. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted civilian leader who was detained during last year’s coup, remains in prison.