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Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – During investigation, Broward County prosecutors confront Parkland school shooter Defense witnesses Their assessment of the threat of violence after testifying on his mental health in Fort Lauderdale this week.
Frederick M. KravitzThe retired clinical psychologist says he treated Nikolas Cruz for 13 months while his son was grieving his adoptive father, Roger Cruz, who died of a heart attack on Aug. 11, 2004, at the age of 67.
Kravitz testified on Wednesday He met Cruz, an 8-year-old with special needs at Coral Springs Elementary. He also met his foster mother, Linda Cruz, 57, a widow with an anger disorder, on April 26, 2007.
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“Obviously, we all know how this ended. What happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, did you see anything in her behavior that would have predicted that this event would happen?” Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Marcus asked Kravitz.
The psychologist and two psychiatrists who treated Cruz at various times during his childhood and adolescence said there was nothing to indicate that Cruz would become a school shooter — not a threat to stab a teacher, but dreams about guns and killing others.
“Not in my opinion. I’ve worked with other really traumatized kids and none of them, as far as I know, have done anything like this,” Kravitz said.
A team of mental health professionals arrested Cruz Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder And Oppositional defiant disorder – When looking at the features related to Obsessive-compulsive disorder And Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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“Do you think there was anything about your assessment or treatment that made you think the defendant would kill 17 people?” Assistant State’s Attorney Nicole Chipon asked Dr. Laurie Karpfwho testified on Thursday From 2008 to 2011, Cruz was on treatment.
Karpf said.“no!”
Mark Dobson, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law College, has been following the case. The criminal law veteran praised Chaipo’s final question on cross-examination.
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“I don’t think it could have been any better than what he did for the state,” Dobson said. Thursday local 10 news live. “I think she used great judgment to stop at that point.”
Marcus had a similar exchange. Dr. Brett JIn the year They treated the Cruze from 2012 to 2017. Their last session was almost six months before Linda Cruz died of complications from pneumonia and the massacre.
Marcus: “You really don’t know at this point that he’s planning to be a mass shooter, you don’t know that, do you?”
Negin.: “no i’m not.”
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Marcus: “I wouldn’t have given you a clue about your mental state examination, your appointment with him, that he was already investigating whether he was a mass shooter, right?”
Negin.: “There is nothing in the record to corroborate.”
Broward County Public Schools staff Dr. Nirma N. Ortiz, psychiatrist and Rona O’Connor KellyThe therapist signed a two-page letter sent to Negin on June 5, 2014.
He is “obsessed with guns and soldiers and insists inappropriately on this topic,” they warned, adding that he “dreams of killing others” and is “covered in blood.” They reported that Cruz was “angry and reactive,” “paranoid,” “challenging,” “verbally aggressive in class” and “destructive.” She also feared that his mother had a weapon.
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“He had a hammer that he used to cut down a dead tree in the yard, but his mother said she couldn’t find it anymore,” they wrote.
Negin said when he was 15, he first saw a letter from Cross Creek School about Cruz’s behavior during the Parkland school shooting. The defense entered the letter into evidence on Thursday.
“The cross-examination was trying to establish that Mr. Cruz, as far as this doctor knows, did not have enough problems to justify the shooting of Marjory Stoneman Douglas.” Dobson said Cross-examination of Marcus Negin.
The defense needs only one of the 12 jurors to challenge the death sentence. Without a jury vote, Cruz faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, to which he pleaded guilty in October.
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Read the letter
See Kravitz’s full August 24 testimony
See Karpf’s August 25 full testimony
See Nejin’s full August 25 testimony
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