Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes was sentenced to life in prison without parole on early Friday evening (August 7) in Centennial, Colo.
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Defense attorneys said Holmes would have pleaded guilty to the murders had he not faced the death penalty.
The jury deliberated for nearly seven hours since Thursday to reach its decision. It will be announced at 5 p.m. Some had a grim face.
The lack of agreement means Judge Carlos A. Samour, Jr. will officially sentence Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a three-day sentencing hearing starting August. 24.
One female juror later told reporters that there was no way to resolve the disagreement on what the sentence should be.
Nine jurors were in favor of the death penalty, a member of the panel said later. When they asked if he had an accomplice, he replied: “No, it’s just me”. “Sorry, Caleb”, she told him.
James Holmes (L) stands in court as the verdict is read in this still image taken from video in Denv … By the time the second charge including her daughter’s name was read she had composed herself. Official sentencing is scheduled for August. 24-26.
Robert Sullivan, whose 6-year-old granddaughter, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, was killed inside the theater, was among those who believed death would be the only way for justice to prevail.
Nevertheless, he respects all of them and said they did “a hell of good job”.
Since the death penalty was re-instated in 1975, Colorado has only executed Davis. Phillips said that she and her husband have always said they didn’t care whether the killer got life or death. Brauchler said he did so because the defense refused to let Holmes be examined by a state psychiatrist and produce the notebook in which he explained the attack.
“We didn’t lose loved ones”.
Mostly, the decision brought another wave of sadness over the loss of life, the injuries and the mental anguish caused by the attack. “He’s living, he’s breathing”. James Holmes will serve a life sentence.
Prosecutors, however, argued that Holmes should die for his crimes.
Holmes, who was wearing khaki trousers and a blue shirt in court, looked calm and had his hands in his pockets. Experts on both sides testified that Holmes is mentally ill.
“Although the (Colorado Criminal Defense Bar) is pleased that the jury rejected the death penalty, we are extremely disheartened by the wastefulness of the trial, which could have been avoided two years ago when a plea was offered that would have produced the exact same result”.
In July 2012, Holmes burst into the Century Aurora movie complex dressed in head-to-toe body armor and fired 76 shots, killing 10 people.
The case was also about the 70 – the ones who are paralyzed or walk with canes or wear bullet scars in their arms, legs, torsos and backs.
Brauchler was joined at a news conference by a group of victims’ families, prosecutors and police officers.
The same jury found him guilty last month of the July, 2012 massacre in a suburban theater in Aurora, outside Denver.
He returned and threw a teargas canister into the cinema then opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle, pump-action shotgun and pistol.
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In the video, Holmes confirmed most of the details of the mass shooting, including his weapons purchases and his plan to draw police and other first responders away from the cinema by rigging his apartment with homemade explosives.
