“The defendant does not deserve any sympathy”, the judge said.
Advertisement
Colorado prisons officials will determine where Holmes will be incarcerated after an evaluation that includes his mental health.
Holmes had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 165 charges for opening fire in Theater 9 of the Century Aurora 16 movie theater during a midnight showing of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises“.
The trial also focused on Holmes’ mental illness.
To the end, Holmes’ state-appointed attorneys blamed the massacre on his schizophrenia and psychotic delusions.
He said he wished the court could order Holmes to spend the rest of his days in solitary confinement, surrounded by photos of the people he killed, but that it could not. He said he studied neuroscience in part to fix his own “broken brain”.
“The defense will absolutely appeal”, said Dan Recht, a partner at RechtKornfeld and a criminal defender not involved in the case.
She says Holmes should try to atone for his crime by giving researchers access to his thinking. But prosecutors disdainfully portrayed him as a self-absorbed loser who lashed out violently after setbacks in his love life and his studies. The sentences will be served consecutively, for whatever that is worth. He was then given thousands of years on top of that for the attempted murders of the injured moviegoers and for setting up explosives in his apartment in the hopes of injuring responding officers. The judge merged the two convictions for each victim into a single count.
But they were allowed to speak without interruption as Holmes final sentencing hearing continued Tuesday, offering testimony that was sometimes quiet and reflective, sometimes laced with anger and frustration.
He called Holmes a monster who should be banished from public sight and forgotten. They talked of flashbacks and nightmares, of relentless survivor’s guilt and enduring physical pain. Some have yet to set foot in a movie theater.
The jury did not reach a unanimous decision on whether Holmes should be executed. “It feels like defeat”. “The only question that remains unanswered is the time of death”. “When did that happen?” the judge asked.
The only person to testify on Holmes’ behalf was his mother, who said she has been researching mental illness and ways to prevent mass violence.
“He’s going to die in prison and for us, that’s enough”, said Lonnie Phillips, stepfather of victim Jessica Ghawi.
Samour also noted that there was a fork in the road at which Holmes could have turned back, but didn’t. He stated the jury was truthful and neutral and that he tried his utmost to be the identical.
Victims and survivors of the shooting testified during the four-month trial. “And we know that is very, very hard for people to see”.
Advertisement
“Justice was done in this case not because of the outcome, but because of the process”, he said.
