Holmes wore body armor and carried a variety of weapons July 20, 2012, when he walked into a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and opened fire on moviegoers, killing 12 people and injuring 70.
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Last month, the killer had been convicted on 12 counts of murder in the first degree and scores more charges including murder, attempted murder and explosives possession. Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A recent survey in Colorado showed that voters support 63 – 32 percent the death penalty rather than life in prison with no chance of parole for James Holmes. The jury said that they were unable to come to a unanimous verdict on whether to impose the penalty, meaning that he would receive a life sentence without parole.
The jury had since been considering what sentence to pass. Families of the victims left the courtroom as Judge Carlos Samour delivered the verdict which spared him execution.
A mix of anger and acceptance in Colorado accompanied the jury’s verdict in the case of James Holmes, who shot and killed 12 people and wounded 70 others inside a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, three years ago. “The person was solidly and definitively in the position where they were going to do a life sentence and there was no persuading”.
In closing arguments Thursday, the assault was described as a “tragedy” born of disease not choice, public defender Tamara Brady told the jury. As the jurors filed back into the courtroom just before 5 p.m., the relatively quick deliberation led many court watchers to believe a death sentence was imminent. George Brauchler, district attorney for Arapahoe County and prosecutor in the case, said at a press conference that he was disappointed by the decision but did not criticize the jury, saying they did “a hell of a job” in the trial, which ran over four months. “It is fairly obvious the pain and heartbreak they were suffering and nothing can ever change that so we rely on God’s grace in that regard and also to his family, maybe people have a harder time seeing that”. Two other jurors were on the fence, she told NBC News, and it wasn’t clear if they could have been persuaded to join the nine panelists who favored capital punishment, the woman said.
Holmes’ lawyer previously tried to get him a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity.
While agreeing that Holmes was mentally ill, the jury could not reach unanimity on the death penalty. It was during a packed midnight screening of the third film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy that the gunman attacked the crowd. Witnesses said Holmes calmly and silently strode through the theater, firing at adults and children alike.
Holmes, who was wearing khaki trousers and a blue shirt in court, looked calm and had his hands in his pockets.
Relatives of those injured and slain marked the third anniversary of the shooting during the final weeks of the trial.
Mr Brauchler said he did so because the defence refused to let Holmes be examined by a state psychiatrist and produce a notebook in which he explained the attack. Her voice breaking, she continued, “And now I’m not a mom”.
It is imperative that we take responsibility for protecting Americans by dealing the deserved punishment, which in this case, was indisputably a sentencing to death row. Holmes’s father, Robert, said he still loved him because because “he’s my son”.
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Holmes’ parents declined to speak to the media but issued a statement through an attorney.
