Reaction to Colorado theater shooting sentence

The 27-year-old former neuroscience graduate student will avoid the death penalty after the jury failed to reach the unanimous verdict required for the punishment after his deadly attack on a packed midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

A unanimous verdict was necessary to sentence the murderer to death, but the jury was unable to reach one.

If Holmes is given a death sentence, he would join three others on death row in Colorado, which has executed just one inmate in almost 50 years. “I am responsible for this decision, and responsible for our part in whatever outcome that we got in this case and that was always true even before today”, he said.

During his three-month trial, Holmes declined to testify in his own defence or to make a statement expressing his remorse.

Robert and Sue Sullivan, whose 6-year-old granddaughter Veronica, whose picture is pinned to their chests, was killed in the theater shooting speak with the media outside Arapahoe County Courthouse after the jury failed to agree on whether James Holmes should get the death penalty Friday, August 7, 2015, in Centennial, Colo. “If they do not, Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole”. He said that he did not have an opinion either way on whether to impose the death penalty.

Reporters in the courtroom tweeted about the reactions from family members of victims and Holmes’ parents.

She said the graphic nature of the evidence made the 15-week trial very hard.

After jurors delivered a guilty verdict July 16, Sandy Phillips said one way or the other, the shooter would die in prison.

Samour will formally sentence Holmes at a hearing, scheduled for Aug. 24 through Aug. 26.

“Nothing about the jury’s sentence changes what happened to them or how it impacts their families”, Brauchler said.

Holmes’ mental illness and notoriety offer challenges for placement, but Colorado has many options including sending him out of state, according to Adrienne Jacobson, CDOC spokeswoman.

The families of some of the 12 people killed in the Colorado theater shooting, including some who didn’t want the death penalty, are defending the work of District Attorney George Brauchler in prosecuting gunman James Holmes. “I still think death is justice for what that guy did”. “Our loved ones are still gone”.

Holmes had remained mostly expressionless throughout the trial, occasionally turning to look when a photograph of himself appeared on a court television.

Holmes admitted to his crimes and had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

During its deliberation, the jury asked to see a 45-minute video of the crime scene that was taken by police following the shooting.

It was not immediately clear where Holmes will serve his life sentence.

As the verdict was read out, Holmes’ mother Arlene leaned her head against her husband’s shoulder and began sobbing, the Associated Press news agency reports. University of Colorado Anschultz Medical Campus, enrolled in 2011 as a doctoral candidate in its neuroscience program.