Aurora Shooter James Holmes Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole

This “may well be the most serious and important decision you ever have to make”. he said, and insisted that they each use “their own individual reasoned moral judgment” in deciding Holmes’s fate.

James Holmes, left, and his defense attorney, Daniel King, in court in June 2013.

It took nearly three years for the case to reach trial. Then they spent less than three hours deliberating before finding that his mental… Jurors also moved closer to the death penalty with another previous step, when they quickly determined the heinousness of Holmes’ crimes outweighed his mental illness.

He said he has apologised to the victims’ families for failing to win a death sentence and added that he does not regret not accepting a plea deal earlier with strings attached for Holmes.

Colorado theater shooter James Holmes has been sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole on all counts.

There was surprise and shock in the courtroom when James Holmes was spared execution on Friday for the July 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado that killed 12 people.

Sandy Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi was killed by Holmes, shook her head no and then held it in her hands. Brauchler said he did not believe Friday’s verdict was a repudiation of capital punishment. The final verdict ended a trial that laid to bear the horrific details of one of the country’s worst mass shootings.

But the mass murder of 12 defenseless theatergoers three years ago was so horrific that many observers predicted death would be the only possible outcome. But the jury agreed with prosecutors that Holmes, while being mentally ill, was still responsible for his actions yet were unable to reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty.

On July 20, 2012, Holmes attacked the packed premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 theatre in Aurora, spraying bullets into the dark auditorium. Dozens of people were wounded, including some who are now paralyzed, walk with canes or live with fear and pain.

Prosecutors said Holmes aimed to slaughter all 400 theater goers. District Attorney George Brauchler said that he thought that death was justice for Holmes’ crimes but that the system had said otherwise and he would honour and respect that decision. “It’s not justice. Our loved ones are still gone”.

Defense lawyer Tamara Brady countered: “The deaths of all of those people can not be answered by another death”. “We will never get to hug them again”. Only one person, convicted murders and rapist Gary Lee Davis in 1997, has been executed since then.

In Colorado, the demise penalty might be accepted exclusively by a unanimous vote. Colorado Public Radio’s Ben Markus reports. Nine jurors wanted to execute Holmes, but one was steadfastly opposed and two others wavering, a juror told reporters after the verdict was announced. Marshall-Fields was going to testify against Ray and Owens in a separate murder case. “All of the jurors really feel a lot empathy for the victims”. He said that he did not have an opinion either way on whether to impose the death penalty. “There was no other concern”, said juror 17. “And I came up short, and that’s my fault, and that’s what hurts….”

Defense arguments about Holmes’ schizophrenia could have been grounds for a death penalty appeal, keeping him alive even longer. “A whole lot of crazy” is how his attorneys summed up a notebook that plotted his rampage and probed the psyche of what he called his “broken mind”.