Theater Shooting Hearing Monday For Holmes

Colorado cinema gunman James Holmes is destined for the “darkest, most painful part of hell”, a sobbing victim has testified at the start of his formal sentencing. A jury of nine women and three men could not agree on whether Holmes should be sentenced to death or receive life in prison.

Holmes was found guilty of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and explosives charges, and Samour must also decide the punishment for those other offenses. Jurors already determined that Holmes will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole for the attack that also wounded 70 others.

James Holmes appears in court with his defense attorney Daniel King in June 2013 following the killing of 12 moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado, the year before.

The three-day hearing began Monday and survivors, including police officers who responded to the shooting, are sharing their accounts of the incident and the hardships they have endured since.

Holmes, clean-shaven and clad in red jail garb, showed no reaction as a procession of victims addressed the court.

Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. will formally sentence Holmes to life on 24 counts of first-degree murder – two for each of those killed.

“It’s not clear to me what the value of these statements are”, she said. “The past haunts you to the point of exhaustion”, said Greg Medek, who cried as pictures of his daughter, Micayla, 23, were displayed on a courtroom television screen.

Victims and family members of those killed and injured in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting are getting their chance to explain how the attack irrevocably altered their lives during sentencing for the killer. During Holmes’ trial, first responders and police officers weren’t allowed to talk about how the grisly massacre affected them personally. Michael Dailey, who talked about washing victims’ blood out of his uniform.

Following a trial that introduced almost 3,000 pieces of evidence, Holmes was spared the death penalty because one juror voted against it.

“Why sentence someone to a thousand years?” she said. “I hope that prison is not kind to him”, Dailey said.