EchoBlog

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WPEC) — It was a somber start to the third week of the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz.

For the first time, parents, siblings and a girlfriend took the stand as prosecution witnesses. They read their thoughts, describing the losses they suffered when Cruz murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Monday afternoon, jurors heard from the mother, sister and girlfriend of Joaquin Oliver; the mother and sister of Alaina Petty; and the parents of teacher Scott Beigel. Each read statements about their loved ones, their relationships, their impacts, and also about what could've been.

The CBS12 News livestream will continue when court goes back in session. That's scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

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Note: The livestream, controlled in the courtroom, will often be silent when evidence is playing or nobody is testifying. It may also contain graphic portions of testimony and evidence. Click here to watch more highlights on the @CBS12 Twitter page.

The testimony is part of the prosecution's attempt to get the jury to unanimously favor the death penalty over life in prison for Cruz. It needs to show aggravating circumstances that “outweigh” the defense's mitigators.

Those factors include murders that were especially heinous or cruel; committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner; or committed during an act that created a great risk of death to many persons.

The prosecution has 17 chances with the jury since Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 murder charges.

Earlier, there was more graphic medical examiner testimony, the type that has been tough for loved ones in the audience to hear.

Dr. Terrill Tops, with Palm Beach County and previously with Broward County, testified about the autopsies he performed the day after Cruz's massacre, on Feb. 15, 2018.

Dr. Tops performed the autopsy on Luke Hoyer, 15. He started answering a question about a piece of prosecution evidence for prosecutor Mike Satz, saying, "This is showing the left side of Mr. Hoyer’s face and neck, on the left side. There are actually three holes that are present on the left side of his neck."

Then, he went into detail, describing and path of the bullet in his body, eventually drowning and compressing his lungs. After even more specifics: "He was conscious and could’ve been saved if he had medical assistance at the time."

After the court's mid-morning break, Dr. Tops went on to discuss football coach and security guard Aaron Feis, 37, in the same manner.

Then, he discussed his third victim's autopsy. He said Joaquin Oliver, 17, was shot in the palm of his right hand, and described the entry and exit wounds. After that, he went into detail on Oliver's head wound, saying a "lead storm" left his head "only kept together by his scalp and forehead. Everything under the skin was obliterated and the brain itself was [not understood] and unrecognizable once I removed it."

Moments later, some of the audience left the courtroom after Dr. Tops finished his testimony.

The next witness was Det. Ronald Faircloth of the Broward Sheriff's Office. He's a digital forensics expert and he testified about Cruz using his cellphone to search for information about school shootings before his own massacre.

After lunch, Det. Faircloth's testimony turned to Cruz's text messages from the day of the killings. He corresponded with two people, one known as J.T. and the other as “Warning Love of Your Life.”

The last part of his testimony dealt with a video, taken by Cruz and narrated by him, in which he explained his plans to shoot people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. It started with

At the end, Cruz goes on camera. He giggles when he says,

Previous medical examiner testimony has been tough on loved ones of the victims in the courtroom audience. The testimony has consisted of descriptions of how the bullets Cruz fired killed the victims, along with photos from the scene.

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There had not been any testimony since Wednesday.

Since then, the judge refused to give the defense a 45-day continuance to replace one of its expert witnesses.

The trial is expected to last into October, and the confessed killer of 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 will be sentenced to either life in prison or the death penalty.

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