WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.879 I hope your ever breathing moment here on earth is miserable and you repent for 2 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:11.480 your sins. Nicholas and burning Hell. We break down some of the most 3 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:16.280 powerful and dramatic moments in the sentencing hearing for the confessed Parkland school shooter. 4 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:23.640 Welcome to sidebar, presented by Long Crime. I'm Jesse Webber. This' Parkland 5 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.960 murderer is going to come a day. It could be a week from now, 6 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:31.719 it could be a month from now, it could be forty years from 7 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:39.280 now. You're gonna die. When you die, it is my fondest hope 8 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:46.560 that they take you and put and burn you, and take your ashes and 9 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:53.479 thrown in the garbage dump. I hope you're maker send you directly to Hell 10 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:59.280 to burn for the rest of your eternity. The sentencing for the confessed to 11 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:04.120 Parkland school shooter is over. Judge Elizabeth Sure officially sentenced Nicholas Crews to life 12 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.840 in prison without the possibility of parole. This came, of course, after 13 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.280 a jury recommended that the killer be sentenced to life in prison as opposed to 14 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:15.000 the death penalty. As you know, the shooter had pled guilty to seventeen 15 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.000 counts of murder and seventeen counts of attempted murder for opening fire at Marjorie Stoneman 16 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.400 Douglas High School back in twenty eighteen, and the jury's decision of life over 17 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:29.519 death hit the victims and the victim's family members particularly hard because this is not 18 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:34.079 what they wanted, and they made that very clear directly after this verdict in 19 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:40.680 a post verdict press conference. But we had absolutely no idea what we would 20 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:42.879 end up seeing in this sentencing hearing, because you see, under the law, 21 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:49.719 victims and victims' family members can provide impact statements to the court in anticipation 22 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:53.519 of the official sentencing by a judge, and sometimes these statements can really play 23 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:59.239 a more practical role. They can actually have an important effect on the judge. 24 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:02.480 A judge who had as discretion handing down a sentence, maybe judge would 25 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:06.959 hear some of these statements and recommend five years in prison as opposed to one 26 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.800 year in prison. But here that wasn't the case for Judge Elizabeth Sure. 27 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:14.360 There really wasn't anything she could do. The jury recommended life in prison, 28 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:17.479 so that's the sentence she had by law she has to hand down. But 29 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:27.120 that didn't stop any of these individuals from providing incredibly powerful and arguably controversial statements 30 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:29.039 in court. And to give you a sense of that, I want to 31 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.560 start with a statement from Linda Beegel Shulman. She is the mother of victim 32 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:38.919 Scott Beagele, the thirty five year old geography teacher who actually helped save the 33 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.280 lives of several of his students. On that day, I learned that here 34 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:50.039 in Florida, the average death penalty case takes eighteen years from sentencing to execution. 35 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:57.159 That means that I would probably be dead before you are executed. I 36 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:02.159 will go forward knowing that you are going to a maximum security prison with other 37 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:08.439 murderers much tougher than you are. A prison where you will spend the rest 38 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:15.159 of your miserable life having to look over your shoulder, worried about every single 39 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:19.520 minute of your day of your life, and scared out of your mind, 40 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:25.639 fearful for someone to take you out. A prison where you will be other 41 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:34.240 inmates, boy toy, A prison where your fellow prison inmates are just waiting 42 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:39.680 to tear you apart. Because from what I hear, child killers are highly 43 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:46.000 frowned upon and hated in prison. You will look back at the time that 44 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.919 you spent in the Broward County jail and see it as it was a hotel 45 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:55.759 compared to the prison where you are headed. As far as I'm concerned, 46 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:04.560 real justice would be done if every family here were given a bullet and your 47 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:11.960 AR fifteen, and we got to pick straws, and each one of us 48 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:18.279 got to shoot one at a time at you, making sure that you've felt 49 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:26.800 every bit of it, and your fear continued to mount until the last family 50 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:32.600 member who pulled that last straw had the privilege of making sure that they killed 51 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:39.680 you. That's real justice for you. And this is pretty consistent with what 52 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:43.879 we've heard the parents hoping and praying that crews be killed in prison, a 53 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:47.519 form of street justice, clearly expressing their pain and heartbreak, but also their 54 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:53.000 frustration at the legal system, their frustration at the jury for not voting in 55 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:56.560 favor of death. And we heard this theme not only that the jury got 56 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.040 it wrong, but perhaps that the law needs to be over because in Florida, 57 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:04.000 the all law actually changed before twenty sixteen. All you needed was a 58 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:08.240 majority vote of a jury to recommend the death penalty, but then it changed 59 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:13.399 to become a unanimous jury vote, and at least one parent expressed that that's 60 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.319 not fair, that how can a minority vote rule? After all, if 61 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:21.120 one juror votes in favor of life in prison, the sentence is life in 62 00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:25.920 prison. Now that's a whole different conversation for another day. But I want 63 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:29.360 to go back to the statements, and I should tell you that these parents 64 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.079 and the family members didn't only direct their anger towards Nicholas Cruz. The controversy 65 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.800 that I mentioned before is when they directed their comments to the defense team who 66 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:44.279 advocated that the death penalty wasn't warranted and highlighted for the jury the defendant's mental 67 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.680 health troubles is problematic early life. And remember, in a way they won, 68 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:50.399 right, they got life in prison, so the defense won here, 69 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.279 Well, here is Max Shackter, the father of fourteen year old Alex Shachter 70 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:00.000 who was killed at Parkland. You're making the mental health crisis in America worse 71 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:09.680 by misrepresenting what actually happened to the Parkland murderer. Just say you can receive 72 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:16.079 fame and notoriety and go on a book tour. There are so many people 73 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:21.040 that really need mental health services and did not get them. But that's not 74 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:28.560 the case with the Parkland murderer. His psychiatrists, his psychologists, counselors, 75 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:33.160 ese teachers all testify to that effect. He was on medication for most of 76 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:39.439 his life. The problem was that he didn't receive not that they didn't receive 77 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:44.639 services or medication. The problem was that none of it worked. You obviously 78 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.600 have a very high tolerance for murder. God knows what you're showing your kids 79 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:58.439 on television. You obviously have no conscience if you don't think that this is 80 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:03.800 the worst of the worst. How could you sit there listening to what he 81 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:12.600 did and say this is not the worst of the worst. He hunted down 82 00:07:12.759 --> 00:07:20.279 innocent children and staff terrified, then tortured them, blew their heads apart like 83 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:28.800 a water balloon, and enjoyed it. That doesn't make it on your worst 84 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:34.639 of the worst murderers list. You make me sick. And it didn't end 85 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:39.720 there. You see. At one point, Manuel Oliver made a victim impact 86 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:43.920 statement. This is the father of seventeen year old victim Joaquin Oliver, and 87 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.240 he decided to address something that the defense had allegedly done because the week before 88 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:51.519 the trial began, there was a hearing that was going to be held, 89 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:57.879 and before the hearing even started up, the video camera in court actually caught 90 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:01.040 the defense seemingly discussing whether they should throw the middle finger up to the camera, 91 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:07.519 while mister Oliver decided to display that very same gesture directly towards the defense 92 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:22.000 team, hiding your actions. The middle finger apologize and you need to learn 93 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:26.279 how to do a middle finger, so you don't need to apologize, took 94 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:33.600 anyone. These kinds of comments are what caused defense counsel Melissa McNeil to ask 95 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.759 Judge Elizabeth Shure to step in and stop the parents from making these comments towards 96 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:43.759 them, but the judge ended up dismissing her. Our system of justice is 97 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:48.919 designed the way that it was administered in this court room. If he would 98 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.600 have gotten debt, we would not have said one single word about that, 99 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.240 and we would respect to the jury's words. This is our system of government, 100 00:08:56.320 --> 00:09:01.240 Judge, and your honors should be maintained. The deformed supportland to prevent 101 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.200 these families from attacking our children and from attacking us personally. When all we 102 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:11.200 were appointed on this. Okay, your your objection is voted, and the 103 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:16.840 judge, oh boy, she got into a heated exchange with one of the 104 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:20.960 defense lawyers. So I have no problem because I have a big skin. 105 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:24.519 But once you bring in my children, I think that's highly improper. I 106 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:28.360 even though you have children, I don't know what you're talking about your children, 107 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.600 what about your children? But them's a comment on my children is highly 108 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.440 improper. You put the sports foot lab like kind of testy. Okay, 109 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.679 Also, there was I don't remember any comments about any children, and if 110 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:45.559 there was, it obviously didn't. It came and went without me noticing it. 111 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.960 So I can assure that if they were talking about your children, you 112 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:52.639 would definitely notice it. You need to sit down right now. You're out 113 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:58.039 of line. In fact, you're excused. You need to go sit in 114 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:07.879 the back with your with your chief public defender, mister Weeks, please ask 115 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.480 the lawyer from your office to go sit down and not say anything else. 116 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:18.559 To try to threaten my children and bring up my children is inappropriate. Go 117 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:26.240 to the back of the room. Now. That just violated about every rule 118 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:31.559 of professional responsibility that I have ever. I have never if you're going to 119 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.080 get up here and you're going to should I ask you to go sidebar on 120 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.519 this matter. You sidebar or not. You don't have one of your assistant 121 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:43.320 public defenders say something about my children. Judge. That same venom that the 122 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.600 court is expressing is the same venom that defence counsel had to sit through this 123 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:54.000 entire morning when there put up her children multiple times during the trial. Nobody 124 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.279 knows if I'm barn or not. They don't know about my children. Sit 125 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:00.399 down, Sit down, Judge, sit down. Mister Weeks, please do 126 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:07.240 not summarily simari no sit down. I'm asking the court. I asked the 127 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:13.519 court to go side book, go sit down. You don't threaten children courtroom, 128 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.840 Go sit down. No one in this courtroom had to endure what we 129 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:24.320 sit down. Miss McNeil has made her children a spectacle more than once during 130 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.559 this trial. That was her choice. You have absolutely no right to have 131 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:31.039 one of your assistants come up here and suggest something about my children. Now, 132 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.879 please go sit down. Judge. You're inappropriate and out of line. 133 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:39.919 Clearly emotions were running high in that courtroom, and of course there's the question 134 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.360 of whether or not the judge should have acted the way that she did. 135 00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:48.000 Was that judicial temperament. Should she have allowed victim impact statements to address the 136 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:50.840 defense, lawyers and the jury. Typically we don't see that, right, 137 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:54.240 We don't usually see that. We see the statements directed towards the defendant. 138 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.080 But then again, maybe the victims, maybe they should the victims family members, 139 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.440 Maybe they should have had a chance to say whatever they want to say. 140 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:03.480 Maybe they should have an open forum. The law does give a lot 141 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:05.159 of leeway for them to say what they want to say. So should the 142 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:07.639 judge have blown up at the defense in order them to the back of the 143 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:11.240 courtroom. These are all outstanding questions at the moment, and again, we 144 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:15.200 could focus on that at a later time, and we could also do a 145 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:20.480 probably a full two hour show on all of these really powerful and poignant statements 146 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.639 that were delivered by each person in that courtroom. But I thought I would 147 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:26.960 end with this the statement of Anne Ramsey, the mother of seventeen year old 148 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:31.720 victim Helena Ramsey, And as you'll hear, she recounts and kind of trans 149 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:37.600 transports us back to the horror of that day, but she also explains how 150 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:43.879 her family's situation and experience was very different. I lost Helena, my daughter 151 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:52.559 on my birthday, and we should have been out celebrated and laughing and joined 152 00:12:52.600 --> 00:13:03.080 dinner, just doing the usual birthday celebrations spent. Instead, we spent hours 153 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:11.840 fruitlessly searching nearby hospitals for Helena because we were told that she was injured. 154 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:22.559 Someone had mistaken her for Samantha Grady, which was often the case, so 155 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.639 we thought she was injured, so we braced ourself ourselves for the worst, 156 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:35.720 and then we went to the Theward North Broward General Hospital, the main hospital, 157 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:41.159 and we asked for our daughter. I mean, the whole family was 158 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:48.279 searching for our daughter. And when we were at the hospital, just by 159 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:54.240 looking at the response, we knew they knew our daughter had died. But 160 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.759 they sent us to the Marriot. They sent us to the Marriot Center, 161 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.759 and we feel that they should have told us at the hospital because the hospital 162 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:15.879 is equipped with conference rooms, chapels, equipped to tell people the passing off 163 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:22.480 their loved ones. Instead, we were sent to a marrier And let me 164 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:31.320 tell you, we were waiting there for hours and hours and hours, listening 165 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:41.519 to the screams and the howling of all the other families. All of my 166 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:46.519 family was there that night. You were in the hospital, you were being 167 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:54.919 taken care of, while our loved ones lay dead. I was asked by 168 00:14:54.919 --> 00:15:00.360 a reporter would the shoot have been killed if he was black? And I 169 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.000 had to stand there and think about that. I had to think about that 170 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:11.200 because it's not that simple. The shooter, if he was black, would 171 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:16.840 not have made it past the gate, because that's the response. It's an 172 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:22.879 aggressive response. He would have been stopped before he entered the gate. So 173 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:26.960 I couldn't have said he would have been shot. No, I can say 174 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:35.440 the response would have been different, And this is how we are treated. 175 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:43.799 Same with the Broward schools. My daughter didn't get her acknowledgment. The same 176 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:50.279 with the browd Sheriff's office, my family, all of my family were there 177 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:56.600 until three am while you were in the hospital. And after all of these 178 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:02.600 statements, the judge imposed the sense. But before she did, she did 179 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:07.840 have some parting words for everyone. And I can't help but think of how 180 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:18.080 I would behave or respond if I were in your shoes. And the way 181 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:26.840 that you have grieved so gracefully and have shown extraordinary restraint throughout this process is 182 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:33.879 something that I've never seen. And as a group of people, you are 183 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:41.840 so strong and so united that if anything good came out of this event. 184 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:47.120 I feel seeing you, I can know that you are all going to be 185 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:51.879 okay because you have each other. And after the judge imposed the sentence, 186 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:56.159 cruise was taken away, his defense attorneys left the courtroom, and the victims 187 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:03.799 actually waited in line in the courtroom to give the judge a hug. What 188 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:10.559 an ending to an absolutely incredibly sad and devastating case. And thanks so much 189 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:14.880 everybody for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 190 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:18.839 YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to 191 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:18.400 you next time.