Nikolas Cruz’s birth mom had a violent, criminal past. Could it help keep him off Death Row?

Miami Herald ^ | 9/5/18 | Carol Marbin Miller And Nicholas Nehamas

[Moonman62]

Nikolas Cruz had two mothers: his birth mom, who gave him life, an almond-shaped head and auburn hair — and his adoptive mom, who gave him all the advantages of an upscale, suburban upbringing.

His birth mother, Brenda Woodard, was sometimes homeless, and panhandled for money on a highway exit ramp. His adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, stayed home to manage a 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom house in the suburbs, with a two-car garage and a sprawling yard. A career criminal, Woodard’s 28 arrests include a 2010 charge for beating a companion with a tire iron; she also threatened to burn the friend’s house down. Lynda Cruz had a clean record.

Woodard was so gripped by addiction she was arrested buying crack cocaine while pregnant with Nikolas. Lynda Cruz was known to drink wine, though not excessively.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Nikolas Cruz should have taken after the woman who raised him from birth, rather than the one who shared only his DNA. But little of Cruz’s story is conventional. While, by most accounts, Lynda Cruz was thoughtful and disciplined, her adoptive son was violent and impulsive — characteristics he seems to share with the birth mother he never knew.

Now the history of his birth family — sealed by statute and never before reported — could become a factor in his desperate attempt to stay off Florida’s Death Row.

[Moonman62]

Cruz's birth mom is a violent non-Hispanic bull dyke (see the article for a photo).

And now the liberal Miami Herald is making the case that he should be given leniency because genetics can cause violent behavior.

[Vendome]

He should be able to beat “Fake-O” O’Dork...

[jospehm20]

No.

[Ouderkirk]

could he avoid the death penalty? yes.

the real question is: should he?

answer: no

[ryderann]

The fact that his brain was fried while still in the womb of his addict mother should be considered a mitigating factor. We need to re-open our state mental health hospitals.

[GenXteacher]

The correct answer is that he is a murderer, and when he is found guilty, his execution should follow soon after.

[americas.best.days...]

There’s no way he gets the death penalty.

[SkyDancer]

He knew what he was doing.

[EXCH54FE]

Could it help keep him off Death Row?

NO, HELL NO!!!!

[gdzla]

Ever see the movie “The Bad Seed”?

[Gay State Conservative]

And if that doesn’t work they’ll try the Twinkie Defense.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

No sympathy. When you have a dangerous, bad tempered animal, you put it down. That is the way Civilization has been for millennia, and hopefully that's the way it will always be.
 

[chris37]

For some reason, I personally do not care if he gets the death penalty or not, and I am not sure why that is.

I think if the families of the victims want to argue that he should, then they should do that.

[jonrick46]

All mentally ill persons have a sense of morality. They know enough of right vs wrong to kick you back if you kick them.

[jonrick46]

The criminal mind is not inherited. Illiterate nonsense tells you otherwise. I hope the jury has at least a high school education.

[bert]

All that means that given the genetic proclivities, he must be removed from the gene pool

[Steely Tom]

Steven Spader, who murdered Kimberly Cates and maimed her daughter Jamie "for fun" when he and three other teenagers invaded the Cates home in October 2009, was adopted from a foster home in Arizona

At the time he was adopted at the age of 5 days, he tested positive for THC and cocaine.

Spader and his accomplice Christopher Gribble are serving life sentences for their crimes; accomplice Quinn Glover was sentenced to a term of 20-40 years, and accomplice William Marks was sentenced to serve 30-60 years. Glover and Marks broke into the home and were present when the attack took place, but didn't participate. Glover was the "first to squeal," which is why he got the short sentence.

A third accomplice, Autumn Savoy, was sentenced to serve at least 5 years for helping cover up the crime by supplying an alibi for the others; he was paroled in 2015.

[BenLurkin]

Exactly.

[robowombat]

But Cruz never fit into the Cruzes’ community, and there were disturbing signs of things to come. He shot his neighbor’s chickens. He pointed a gun at half-brother Zachary when they argued over a jar of Nutella, and held an AR-15 to his mother’s head, yelling that he would blow her brains out. He got into fights at school, was reportedly abusive to a girlfriend and made Internet postings about his fervent desire to shoot up a school, which he finally did with deadly results.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article216909390.html#storylink=cpy

And his adoptive mom thought buying this seriously bent person firearms would make him a happy boy. UGH.

[Zhang Fei]

[Conventional wisdom suggests that Nikolas Cruz should have taken after the woman who raised him from birth, rather than the one who shared only his DNA.]

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Identical twins raised apart generally have very similar personalities. Nurture has some effect, but nature is probably dominant, especially in relation to things like personality, IQ and athletic ability. For instance, Steve Jobs probably inherited both his dirtbag personality and his smarts from his biological dad, scion of a wealthy Syrian family, rather than his adoptive dad, an auto mechanic and a nice guy.