There’s a lot of news to dissect about the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and I vow to get to it all in due time. However, one story came out today I definitely want to comment on right the hell now.

According to Nikolas Cruz’s attorney, public defender Howard Finkelstein, Cruz will plead guilty to the 17 murders he committed, if the death penalty is taken off the table. However, before we get to that, I also have to comment on the tactic the defense attorney is taking with Cruz.

“I am overwhelmingly saddened that every system failed. The school system, the mental health system, DCF, law enforcement and the FBI,” said Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office is representing Cruz. “Because we failed to stop it, and we could have, we should not kill the person who behaved as we feared but ignored.”

Be that as it may, that doesn’t change the fact Cruz killed 17 people just for the sake of killing. Whatever system may or may not have failed him, he’s ultimately the one who pulled the trigger. He is responsible for his actions. He knew it was wrong and knew it was illegal, and he did it anyway. For those reasons alone, he is the textbook candidate for the death penalty. What other punishment is there to mete out the justice his victims deserve? My hope is the prosecution will not even consider offering this assclown a deal, and fervently pursue his execution.

The only drawback to the death penalty is it will still be at least 20 years before he’s actually executed, filing his appeals, while his victims don’t have that luxury.

(Thanks to Lady Gray for the assist.)