Parkland mass shooter faces final judgment as jury selection begins on Monday in Florida

More than four years after he gunned down 17 people at a Parkland high school, Nikolas Cruz is finally set to face judgment in a Broward County courtroom.

On Monday, barring any unexpected delays, prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin the process of selecting 12 jurors to decide one remaining question about the confessed and convicted mass murderer. Should he live or die?

Under Florida law, a decision to execute Cruz will have to be a unanimous one. Finding a dozen people to make it— plus alternates — is expected to take weeks.

Given the immense publicity, the brutal details of the murders of innocent school children and the difficult prospect of potentially sentencing someone to die, legal experts say finding willing jurors who say they also can be impartial will be a challenge.

“It will be a long and arduous process. It will be difficult to find jurors without an opinion,” said retired Miami-Dade senior prosecutor Gail Levine, who is not involved in the case. “Remember, it’s OK to know about the case. But a juror cannot serve if they have already formulated an opinion about the penalty before the case is presented.”