Parkland school shooting

Inside Look at the 12 Jurors Deciding Parkland School Shooter's Fate

Following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, gunman Nikolas Cruz's life is in the hands of these twelve jurors

NBC Universal, Inc.

After a nearly three-month selection process, a panel of twelve jurors has been sworn in to decide the fate of Nikolas Cruz, the now 23 year-old who pled guilty to murdering 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

The panel, made up of seven men and five women, will return to court on July 18 to begin proceedings which will determine whether Cruz receives life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty in the killing spree.

During a court session, Cruz confirmed that he participated in the selection process and listened to the deliberations regarding who would partake in deciding his sentence.

The chosen jurors range from ages 24 to 59, and consist of three white females, two black makes, two Hispanic males, two White males, one Hispanic male, one Black female and one Asian male.

Of the panel, four of the jurors registered as Democrats, four as Republican, two as no party affiliate, and two remain unknown. Of these twelve, at least four jurors own one or more handguns.

Here are details about each of the jurors:

  • Juror #1 is a 43-year-old White male who is a registered Republican and handgun owner. He is an IT systems analyst who formerly worked in construction, and he is married to a mental health counselor.
  • Juror #2 is a Hispanic male in his 40s who works as a vice president for a bank. He does not own firearms.
  • Juror #3 is a 29-year-old White male who is a Republican army veteran. He currently works as a state probation officer and considered law enforcement "a difficult job."
  • Juror #4 is a 29-year-old Black male who is a registered Democrat who is a stocking team leader for a retailer.
  • Juror #5 is a 38-year-old Black male who has no political party affiliation and owns a handgun. He works as a computer technician. While the defense tried to remove him from the panel due to his unpleasant experience with law enforcement, the judge sided with the state.
  • Juror #6 is a 33-year-old Hispanic female who is registered as a Democrat and works as a medical claims adjuster. She has no negative experience with law enforcement.
  • Juror #7 is a 59-year-old White Republican female who formerly worked in government and churches, and now works as a library worker. She had a positive experience with mental health counseling and has no negative experiences with law enforcement, even when her sons were arrested over a decade ago.
  • Juror #8 is a 52-year-old Black female who is a Democrat and owns a handgun. She works as the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for a healthcare firm and is a member of boards promoting mental health treatment and low-income healthcare. She believes law enforcement is "an honorable profession."
  • Juror #9 is a 24-year-old White female who is a Republican and does not own a gun. She works as a legal assistant and graduated from Florida State University in 2019. She believes mental health counseling to be "helpful," and believes law enforcement is "doing the best they can, given everything."
  • Juror #10 is a 35-year-old Asian male who is an army veteran and works as an immigration officer and attorney. He has no political party affiliation.
  • Juror #11 is a 28-year-old Hispanic male who works in his family export business and studied business in college. He had an unpleasant law enforcement experience.
  • Juror #12 is a 51-year-old White female who is a Democrat and compliance officer for a medical company. Her father was a police chief.

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