The gunman in the 2018 Parkland school massacre will be formally sentenced this week to life in prison -- but not until the families of those he killed have one more opportunity to face him in court.

After a monthslong trial to decide if Nikolas Cruz should be sentenced to death, a jury recommended he serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the shooting at a South Florida high school in which 17 people were killed, sparing his life after his defense attorneys argued he was a disturbed, mentally ill person.

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CNN's Denise Royal, Sara Weisfeldt and Leyla Santiago contributed to this report.

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