Tom Teves, father of Aurora shooting victim Alex Teves, has often spoken on behalf of the families of the 12 people killed in July 2012.
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As the judge began reading the verdicts – guilty, guilty, guilty – repeated 165 times over an entire hour, for each count of murder and attempted murder, the families sobbed quietly, clutched one another’s shoulders and nodded along to a recitation of guilt that many had been waiting almost three years to hear.
Katie Medley, the first person who testified in the James Holmes trial, said she was pleased with the verdict, but brokenhearted with the reason why so many families were at the courthouse in the first place.
On Wednesday, the jury will begin hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense on the sentence they should impose-their options are life in prison without parole and the death penalty. “Finally, this is coming to a close”. If he is sentenced to death, Holmes will be sent to the Sterling Correctional Facility, about 125 miles northeast of Denver, where death row inmates are held before being taken to a different penitentiary for execution. Many jurors who go through a capital-murder trial develop mental illnesses of their own, with depression and anxiety being the most common. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.
James Holmes, left, stands in court as the verdict is read Thursday. – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. Prosecutors have named five in this case – including the death of a child younger than 12 – and defense attorneys likely will not contest them. With that information, it will be up to the jury to decide whether prosecutors met their burden of proving Holmes was legally sane.
The jurors will be asked to determine whether they believe there are aggravating factors in this case that would support a death sentence or mitigating factors that would spare his life. Those will probably include more evidence of mental illness and a sympathetic portrayal of his childhood.
Two deputies are stationed on the roof.
This story has been corrected to show that the trial lasted 11 weeks, not 11 months.
Within 30 minutes, the group of nine women and three men requested a whiteboard. The images King showed jurors were of Holmes looking dazed and sullen with fiery orange hair after the July 20, 2012 attack. It ranks as one of the nation’s deadliest shootings. Dr Wachtel is providing frequent commentary on the theater shooting trial on 9NEWS and 9NEWS.com, which is a mixture of professional analysis and his personal impressions of this case.
The panel made its decision Thursday after deliberating for a day and a half. Two of those killed in 2012 had ties to East Texas.
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Jurors debating whether to find Holmes guilty or not guilty were told not to worry about the penalty phase when making their initial decision about whether to convict him.
