Colorado theatre shooter James Holmes to be sentenced to life in prison Friday August 07,2015

 

Colorado theatre shooter James Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury failed to agree on Friday August 07,2015 on whether he should get the death penalty for his murderous attack on a packed movie premiere.

The 9 women and 3 men said they could not reach a unanimous verdict on each of the 24 murder counts.

That automatically eliminates the death penalty for Holmes, who blamed his calculated murders of 12 people on mental illness.

Prosecutors argued Holmes deserved to die because he methodically planned the 2012 assault at a midnight screening of a Batman movie, even blasting techno music through ear phones so he wouldn’t hear his victims scream.

The verdict came as a surprise. The same jury rejected Holmes’ insanity defence, finding him capable of understanding right from wrong when he carried out the attack. It also quickly determined that the heinousness of Holmes’ crimes outweighed his mental illness in a prior step that brought them closer to the death penalty.

As the verdict was read, Holmes’ mother Arlene, who had pleaded for jurors to spare her son’s life, leaned her head against her husband’s shoulder and began sobbing. Tears broke out across the courtroom. In the back, Aurora police officers who responded to the bloody scene of Holmes’ attacks began crying.

The defence countered that his schizophrenia led to a psychotic break, and that powerful delusions drove him to carry out one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings. At least one juror agreed a verdict of death must be unanimous.

District Attorney George Brauchler said on Friday he was frustrated that Holmes didn’t get the death penalty, but he praised jurors for doing a “hell of a job” throughout the gruelling, four-month trial.

Jurors deliberated for about six and a half hours over two days before deciding on Holmes’ sentence.

They reached their decision after the judge granted their request earlier Friday to re-watch a graphic crime scene video taken immediately after the massacre. The 45 minutes of footage, played during the trial, shows 10 bodies lying amid spent shell casings, popcorn and blood.

There was never any question during the gruelling, four-month trial as to whether Holmes was the killer. 

Holmes meekly surrendered outside the theatre, where police found him clad head-to-toe in combat gear.

The trial hinged instead on the question of whether a mentally ill person should be held legally and morally culpable for an act of unspeakable violence.

It took jurors only about 12 hours of deliberations to decide the first part they rejected his insanity defence and found him guilty of 165 felony counts.

Colorado theatre shooting took place on July 20,2012 killing 12 people and injuring 70 people

Timeline

July 7, 2012 - James Holmes purchases a ticket, through an online ticketing agent, for the July 19 midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Century Aurora 16 Multiplex Theater in Aurora, Colorado.

July 19, 2012 - Holmes attends the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Century Aurora 16 Multiplex Theater in Aurora, Colorado. Holmes enters theater #9 but soon exits through a rear door on the right side of the screen, leading to a parking lot. He leaves the door propped open and returns through it, according to a law enforcement source involved in the investigation. 

The gunman is "dressed head-to-toe in protective gear"- a ballistic helmet, protective gear for his legs, throat and groin, black gloves and a gas mask. He props open the door, before throwing two tear gas canisters into the theater. After both canisters explode, witnesses say he started shooting, first at the ceiling and then at the crowd. Police say he used an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and at least one of two .40-caliber handguns police recovered at the scene.

Twelve people are killed and 70 are wounded.

Holmes surrenders to police outside the theater within seven minutes of the first 911 calls, according to Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates.

Five buildings, including Holmes' apartment building at 1690 Paris St., are evacuated after the suspect makes a statement to police about explosives in his unit. According to police, his apartment has been booby trapped with a tripwire at the front door that would have touched off an array of explosives and flammable liquids.

July 21, 2012 - Investigators disarm all the makeshift bombs in Holmes' apartment, using a "controlled detonation" to disable a second triggering device. The explosives removed include more than 30 homemade grenades and 10 gallons of gasoline

July 23, 2012 - James Holmes makes his first court appearance. He is ordered to be held without bond.

July 25, 2012 - Authorities discover a package in a University of Colorado-Denver mail room apparently sent by Holmes.

August 1, 2012 - Denver station KMGH reports Holmes' psychiatrist, Lynne Fenton of the University of Colorado, told colleagues in June that he could be potentially dangerous to others, but before any action could be taken Holmes began the process of dropping out of the university.

November 16, 2012 - It is announced that the Aurora Victim Relief Fund will distribute donations to families of those killed and some victims wounded in the shooting.

March 13, 2013 - Holmes and his defense team say in court they are not ready to enter a plea at this time. The judge in the case enters a standard plea of not guilty on Holmes' behalf.

March 27, 2013 - According to court documents, Holmes offers to plead guilty and spend life in prison in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

April 1, 2013 - The district attorney rejects Holmes' offer, announcing that he will seek the death penalty.

May 7, 2013 - Holmes' attorneys file to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on behalf of their client.

May 13, 2013 - Holmes pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.

June 4, 2013 - A judge accepts Holmes' plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Holmes will be taken to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for evaluation and is expected to be returned to Arapahoe County Jail on August 2.

July 10, 2013 - Attorneys for Holmes file an objection to the judge's ruling that their client must be restrained during the trial, by means of hidden harness anchored to the floor. In the filing, the attorneys concede that Holmes carried out the movie theater attack and say, "Mr. Holmes suffers from a severe mental illness and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained by movie goers on July 20, 2012."

August 28, 2013 - Judge Carlos Samour rules that the victims of the shootings will be allowed to watch the trial proceedings despite the possibility they may be called as witnesses.

February 19, 2014 - Judge Samour orders Holmes to undergo an additional sanity examination, saying there was good cause to believe previous testing was "incomplete and inadequate," according to a ruling.

July 9, 2014 - Judge Samour delays Holmes' trial, originally scheduled for October 2014, in order to allow the additional sanity exam to be completed.

December 19, 2014 - Holmes' parents speak out for the first time in a written statement published by the Denver Post stating they believe the "death penalty is morally wrong, especially when the condemned is mentally ill." They also believe that the attention should now be focused on the "injured and healing" and would like to avoid a "traumatic trial."

January 20, 2015 - Jury selection begins in the trial of accused shooter James Holmes. 9000 potential jurors have been summoned.

April 14, 2015 - Twelve jurors and 12 alternates are selected. The group includes 19 women and five men. It's almost entirely white and mostly middle-aged. 

June 17, 2015 - For the fifth time in eight days, a juror is dismissed, with the judge saying the female juror was not forthcoming about having recognizeed a witness. Three jurors were dismissed earlier because they reportedly discussed media stories about the case, and one was sent home after she changed her story to the judge about how her brother-in-law was shot in an armed robbery.

June 19, 2015 - The prosecution rests its case, calling as its last witness a victim who survived the movie theater massacre but lost her pregnancy and her small daughter.

July 9, 2015 - Holmes tells the judge that he won't testify.

July 10, 2015 - The defense rests its case.

July 16, 2015 - Holmes is found guilty on all 165 counts against him, making him eligible for the death penalty.

August 7, 2015 - Holmes is sentenced to life in prison without parole when the jury is unable to reach a unanimous sentencing verdict as to whether he would receive the death penalty or life in prison

12 Killed People 

 
Jonathan T. Blunk, 26
Alexander J. Boik, 18
Air Force Staff Sgt Jesse E. Childress, 29
Gordon W. Cowden, 51
Jessica Ghawi, 24
Petty Officer 3rd Class John Thomas Larimer, 27
Matthew R. McQuinn, 27
Micayla C. Medek, 23
Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6
Alex M. Sullivan, 27
Alexander C. Teves, 24
Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32