The deadliest US mass shooting ever to go to trial ended in a life sentence for the Parkland school gunman.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami spoke out in support of the life sentence, calling the punishment “severe and just.”
In a statement released by the Diocese of Miami, Wenski said:
“A sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole is a severe and just punishment that also will allow Nikolas Cruz to continue to reflect on the grave harm he caused.”
He called murder a heinous crime, but “human dignity — that of the convicted as well as our own — is best served by not resorting to the extreme and unnecessary punishment of capital punishment.”
“While God certainly punished Cain, history’s first murderer, God did not require Cain’s life for having spilt Abel’s blood. While not excusing his actions, it is clear that multiple and systemic breakdowns within family services, police, and the public school system failed him and the rest of us as well. Seemingly nobody recognized the inadequacies in Mr. Cruz’s life or the state of his mental health. His numerous threats of violence that preceded the mass murder were addressed inadequately, if at all.”
Wenski was referring to the expectation of a death sentence, instead of life sentence.
