James Holmes Sentenced to Life in Prison

Colorado theater shooter James Holmes has been sentenced to life after a jury failed to agree on a death penalty.

The shooting occurred during a midnight showing of a Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises“, when Holmes burst into the theater through a rear door and opened fire.

The 27-year-old was found guilty of 24 counts of murder – two for each victim – and 140 counts of attempted murder, along with charges of possession of explosives and committing a crime of violence.

Jurors in the Colorado theater shooting case have reached a decision on whether James Holmes should get life in prison or the death penalty.

Earlier in the day, jurors requested to watch a 45-minute video of the graphic crime scene shot by police investigating the shooting rampage.

She had asked jurors whether they were ready to sign the death warrant of a mentally ill person and said they would have to live with the decision for the rest of their lives.

In defense of Holmes, his attorneys pleaded that he did in fact suffer from schizophrenia and that by bringing the death penalty into play would be an inhumane decision. His mental illness didn’t prevent him from acting “rationally” elsewhere in his life, and the defendant must be held accountable for the mass murder, prosecutors said.

It was the first time Robert and Arlene Holmes spoke publicly about their love and support for their son, other than an appeal to try to save his life in an op-ed published just before jury selection started.

The jury had swiftly ruled that there were substantial “aggravating factors” to consider the death penalty for Holmes, and that the defense’s arguments against execution didn’t outweigh those factors.

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. But many also described how they or their relatives have struggled with depression, PTSD and nightmares since the shooting.

Defense attorneys objected that the gruesome images taken immediately after the massacre would be prejudicial. Over the ensuing weeks, jurors reviewed nearly 2,700 pieces of evidence and heard the testimony of 302 witnesses. She also lost her pregnancy to miscarriage, and Holmes killed her 6-year-old daughter, Veronica, as he fired into the darkened theater.

They recalled sometimes amusing stories about their family members. The deaths can not be answered by another death, and Holmes would be punished for the remainder of his days under a life sentence, she said.

Booking photograph from July 20, 2012 of James Eagan Holmes. In an interview with a court-appointed psychiatrist, Holmes said he believed his attack would cause people to remember him for decades.

Survivors of the attack and victims’ family members disagree on which sentence is appropriate.