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By Beth Stibal |

Prosecution rests, jury takes a break after seeing bloody crime scene in Parkland

School Shooting Florida
An early morning fog rises where 17 memorial crosses were placed, for the 17 deceased students and faculty from the Wednesday shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. As families began burying their dead, authorities questioned whether they could have prevented the attack at the high school where a gunman, Nikolas Cruz, took several lives. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

(BROWARD COUNTY) — The prosecution has rested in the sentencing phase of the convicted Parkland high school shooter after jurors walked through the crime scene at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Thursday.

During the tour jurors saw bullet holes, shards of glass and dried blood.  Nothing had been changed except for the removal of the victims’ bodies and some personal items.

Prosecutors hope the visit will help prove that Cruz’s actions were cold, calculated and heinous.  Also that he created a “great risk of death to many people, and interfered with a government function” which are all aggravating factors under Florida’s capital punishment law.

The jurors will return to the courtroom August 22nd when the defense will begin presenting its case to spare Nik Cruz’s life.

Cruz has plead guilty to 17 counts of first degree murder.  Now his defense team must explain to the jury why their client deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than getting the needle.