James Holmes Colorado Theater Shooter Gets Life in Prison

In Colorado, the entire jury must agree to a death sentence, but they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision. The same jury rejected Holmes’ insanity defense, finding him capable of understanding right from wrong when he carried out the attack.

James Holmes, the man responsible for the 2012 mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday.

Speaking to the media outside the courthouse, some family members of the victims expressed dismay at the jury’s sentence.

The 12-member jury reached a decision after deliberating nearly seven hours since late Thursday. Find out more about his final sentencing.

Victims’ families began streaming out the court before the judge finished reading the verdicts on all of the counts and the wails of their horror and heartbreak could be heard through the door.

One juror told reporters outside court that there was a single juror who refused to give Holmes the death penalty and two others who were wavering. That automatically eliminated the death penalty for Holmes. The defense showed jurors photographs of James Holmes hanging on in the backyard with children from the neighborhood and playing in the surf near his home in California.

Holmes was convicted of murdering 12 people and attempting to murder 70 others three years ago inside a midnight “Batman” movie screening in suburban Denver. She began shaking her head and lay it on the back of the wheelchair of Caleb Medley, another paralyzed victim. “I still think death is justice for what that guy did but the system said otherwise”. Seventy people were injured in the attack. His attorneys left court without commenting.

In her closing argument, Brady had asked the jurors whether they were ready to sign the death warrant of a mentally ill person, and she said they would have to live with that decision for the rest of their lives.

Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning that much of the trial focused on his mental capacity during the rampage and on his behavior in the months before and afterward.

Holmes attacked the packed premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 theatre in Aurora on July 20, 2012, spraying bullets into the dark auditorium.

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

But the jury rejected that defense in July, convicting him of a total of 165 counts, including the 24 charges of first-degree murder. If even one juror disagrees with capital punishment for Holmes, he would be sentenced to life in prison without parole. He also booby-trapped his apartment, intending for an explosion to occur when someone entered after the massacre, and set a recording of loud music to play in order to lure someone inside.

He bought a ticket for the screening before slipping out to his auto behind the building, and changing into what prosecutors called a “kill suit” of ballistic helmet, gas mask, and head-to-toe body armor. Police officers arrested Holmes outside.