The jury in the Parkland shooter trial shocked the courtroom by deciding against the death penally for Nikolas Cruz who pleaded guilty to killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018. Instead, the jury recommended life in prison for the mass shooter. Last year, Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty to 17 charges of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Jurors were tasked with deciding whether Cruz would be sentenced to death or spend his life behind bars. A unanimous decision was required by the 12 jurors to decide on the death penalty. The reading of the verdict sheet for the 17 murder counts took over an hour, during which families of the victims who were present reportedly were in shock and had tears in their eyes as each count was being read as life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. As of 2016, Florida no longer allows a judge to use a judicial override to sentence a defendant to the death penalty. Related articles: Parkland school shooter sentenced to life in prison Jurors permitted to see shooter's swastika drawings 'His brain was 'broken', don't sentence him to death' Jury to decide on death sentence for Parkland shooter After the jury finished, prosecutors requested that Cruz’s victims be given the chance to present victim’s statements about the impact of the shooting on their lives and give their opinion on how he should be sentenced. The judge approved the request, which will take place in the next few weeks. After the verdict was read out, Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was one of the 17 people murdered in the shooting, denounced the jury’s decision, according to the New York Post . “I’m disgusted with those jurors. That you can have 17 [murdered] and not give the death penalty,” he told reporters. “You set a precedent today, that you can do a mass shooting and get life in prison. “I pray that animal [Cruz] suffers every day of his life in jail, and that he should have a short life,” he added.