His son Alex, called Sully by his friends and co-workers, had been celebrating his 27th birthday with friends at the cinema when Holmes killed him and the others in a hail of bullets.
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“I doubt that they’ve heard a lot in the way of character evidence on behalf of Mr. Holmes, to try to soften the blow and show he was a victim here, he was a victim there or anything like that”, said Frederick. They will return on Wednesday at 8:40 a.m.to start the next round of deliberations.
George Brauchler, district attorney for the area including Arapahoe County, insisted that Holmes was exclusively focused on committing a mass murder.
Holmes declined to testify in his own defense, but jurors did watch more than 22 hours of a videotaped sanity examination conducted by one of the two court-appointed psychiatrists. His father, Robert Holmes, stared straight ahead.
Caleb was shot in the head that night at the Aurora move theater, leaving him with severe brain injuries and in a wheelchair.
His public defenders presented evidence at trial that he had grown increasingly unstable before the attack, and was losing a long battle with mental illness, which ran in his family. “It ends up being a much more personal decision”.
If a single juror opposes dealing Holmes the death penalty, Holmes will be sentenced to life in prison.
The 27-year-old Holmes, dressed in a blue shirt and cream-coloured pants with his hands in his pockets, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out. It took District Court Judge Carlos Samour Jr. The verdict, which comes after a grueling 10-week trial, will allow the prosecution to pursue the death penalty for the Colorado gunman.
A jury has found Colorado theatre shooter James Holmes guilty of murder in the methodically planned attack that left 12 dead and dozens wounded.
The defendant, who has frequently swiveled back-and-forth in his chair during the trial, stood still with his defense team as the judge read off one guilty count after another.
“We’re very happy that this animal, this monster, will never see the light of day”, Phillips said. Young told the media she was a bit confused as to how she was going to feel walking into the courtroom, but after the verdicts were in, she simply felt relief.
In Colorado, a jury has returned its verdict on James Holmes, the man on trial for killing 12 people and wounding more than 70 others in a movie theater three years ago.
Holmes’ actions sent a shockwave throughout America and the entertainment community. After the final count was read, Arlene Holmes buried her face in her husband’s shoulder.
The sentencing phase is expected to take weeks. Facing a total of 165 charges, he had previously pleaded not guilty on grounds of insanity. While Holmes reloaded, survivors said they were forced to decide whether or not to stay in the theater and help the wounded. “And he came there with one thing in his heart and in his mind – and that was mass murder”.
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Larimer was on a date with Julia Vojtsek, 26, formerly of Algonquin, when Holmes opened fire on the theater during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises”. They recalled the panic to escape the gunman.
