Prosecutors might be working their damnedest to get the death penalty for the accused Parkland shooter, but teenage girls are praising him in love letters.

Apparently, Nikolas Cruz, 17, has been sent “suggestive photographs, greeting cards, encouragement and other kind notes”, reports IOL.

But while the pattern is nothing new – seen before with other killers and men accused of violent crimes – Cruz’s representative, Broward County Public Defender, Howard Finkelstein, is worried about the notoriety his client is getting:

“The letters shake me up because they are written by regular, everyday teenage girls from across the nation,” he said. “That scares me. It’s perverted.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel obtained copies of some of the post, and showed a “thick stack of hundreds of pages of photocopies of the letters Cruz has been sent”.

They even shared some examples of what they contained:

“You’re in a tough spot, Nik, and that is something I know, because I’ve been there myself,” one letter writer wrote Cruz. “If you need something, I can mail to you . . . ask. If you need to talk . . . I’ll listen.”

On March 15, a person who identified themselves as an 18-year-old woman from Texas wrote: “When I saw your picture on the television, something attracted me to you.” The letter was inside an envelope decorated with hearts and happy faces, the Sentinel reported. “Your eyes are beautiful and the freckles on your face make you so handsome.”

Another woman sent Cruz nine suggestive photos, the newspaper reported.

The pile of photocopied letters:

Finkelstein explained how the “piles of letters” to Cruz was unlike anything he has seen before:

“In my 40 years as public defender, I’ve never seen this many letters to a defendant,” he said. “Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this.”

And it’s not only women: some of the letters are from men, too.

Cruz, who is on suicide watch, has not seen the letters. The Broward County Jail opens most mail for inmates, but mail that is vulgar or deemed a security threat is returned to sender:

“We read a few religious ones to him that extended wishes for his soul and to come to God, but we have not and will not read him the fan letters or share the photos of scantily-clad teenage girls,” Finkelstein told the newspaper.

It’s not all bad, though: in his commissary account (which can be used to buy products at the prison store) lies $800 – about R9 500 – an amount largely sent by fans.

Casual.

[source:iol]