#Carmen Valentine trial#

“But I also feel very much that this is something that I believe in, that is in accordance with my values,” said Schentrup, whose opposition to the death penalty extends beyond the case of his sister’s killer to capital punishment as a whole for the same apparent flaws critics point to its legacy as a tool of racial oppression – or its use on people with intellectual disabilities, among others. “It’s hard for me to be of an opinion that my parents don’t agree with and actively dislike,” Robert Schentrup said. We believe under Florida law a death sentence is the appropriate outcome.” “As shown in the trial,” he wrote, “Carmen’s murderer expressed pride and joy in murdering Carmen and 16 other incredible people. We disagree with our son however, on this topic.” “My wife and I love our son,” Philip Schentrup, Carmen and Robert’s father, wrote in an email, “and are proud of the thoughtful, intelligent and engaged young man he has become.

#Carmen Valentine trial#

Parkland families talk of 'unspeakable loss' as they continue victim impact testimony in gunman's death penalty trial (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. Robinovitz's granddaughter Alyssa was killed in the 2018 shootings. Theresa Robinovitz cries after reading her victim impact statement during the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Tuesday, Aug. Schentrup’s personal stance puts him at odds with many of the victims’ families, including his own parents, who told CNN in a statement the death penalty is the right punishment for their daughter’s murderer. In making their case for death, prosecutors have argued the shooting was calculated and premeditated, while the shooter’s defense attorneys have called for a life sentence, presenting evidence of his troubled upbringing at home and in school and developmental difficulties he displayed throughout his life. If they do, the judge can decide to follow the jury’s recommendation or sentence the gunman to life in prison.

The jury must be unanimous to recommend death.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating in the gunman’s trial this week, almost a year after he pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, to decide whether to recommend he be sentenced to death. “I had to look deep into my values and say, is this something that connects with it? And if so, live through that.” “And I understood that if this is something that I felt that I believe that it needed to apply in my personal case and beyond,” he said. “Logically, it doesn’t follow for me that we say, ‘murdering someone is this horrible, heinous, awful, terrible thing, and in order to prove that point, we’re going to do it to someone else.’” These are the victims of the Florida school shooting