Ron DeSantis lambasts Parkland jury for failing to sentence shooter to death penalty

Like many politicians, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a lawyer. Like most conservatives, he doesn’t actually believe that people have the ability to govern themselves and that all state power should spring from the democratic will of the governed.

You’d think this would cause a bit of cognitive dissonance in the governor. After all, our entire justice system is meant to be built on an equal meeting between adversaries (typically a citizen and the state). The winner is meant to be decided by a jury of peers, made up by definition by the defendant’s fellow citizens. The decision in the case against mass shooter Nikolas Cruz led to DeSantis to question the will of juries.

In case you missed it, Cruz was sentenced for  the murder of 17 people at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. The then 19-year-old Cruz entered the school with a semi-automatic rifle and went on a shooting spree that ended when Cruz left the school of his own volition. Though he blended in with fleeing students, he was arrested later in the day as a suspect.

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Cruz pled guilty to the charges of murder against him last year. The jury could not unanimously agree on a death sentence, a requirement for capital punishment cases in Florida. As such, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. That didn’t sate DeSantis’ bloodlust apparently, as he held a press conference denouncing the decision.

“This killer’s going to end up getting the same sentence as people who’ve committed bad acts, but acts that did not rise to this level,” he said. “I just don’t think anything else is appropriate except a capital sentence in this case. So, I was very disappointed to see that.”

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In addition, DeSantis boo-hooed the fact that Cruz wasn’t rushed toward a death sentence. The COVID-19 pandemic and typical courthouse delays meant that DeSantis was waiting for years for an execution that didn’t come.

“I’m also disappointed that we’re four and half years after these killings and we’re just now getting this,” he said. “You know they used to do this, he would have been executed in six months.”

DeSantis’ oddly anti-legal system rant caught the eyes and ears of more than a few listeners, who noted that it falls in line with Republicans’ penchant for throwing out the entire system when they don’t get their way.

Take a look at some responses below.