Thursday, the defense concluded the long testimony of Dr. Raquel Gur, a court-admitted expert who testified that the gunman was legally insane at the time of the shooting. But Brauchler, who is seeking the death penalty, suggested Gur came to a hasty conclusion about Holmes’ mind.
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During the case, the defense presented Holmes’ odd behavior after the shooting. One showed him in his jail cell, running and slamming his head against the wall, then falling backward and sitting down.
The hospital video shows Holmes strapped to a jail bed with police and others coming in and out of the room.
The prosecution was going to take up to two days on its rebuttal case before closing arguments begin, but they decided to rest their case as well on Friday.
The trial is in its 47th day.
Earlier Thursday, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ruled that jurors would not see a video of Holmes talking about being afraid of “shadows” he saw while at a hospital four months after the attack.
Holmes slipped into a suburban Denver theater on July 20, 2012, and opened fire with a shotgun, an assault rifle and a semi-automatic handgun as more than 400 people watched a midnight premier of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises”. The prosecution then gets the final word, and jurors will begin deliberating on Wednesday. “So the defense only needed to raise a reasonable doubt that Holmes was sane”.
The charges include two versions of first-degree murder for each of the 12 people killed in the attack and two versions of attempted first-degree murder for each of the 70 people wounded.
Not guilty by reason of insanity is called an “affirmative defense” that asks the jury to conclude the defendant either didn’t know right from wrong or couldn’t form the mental state required for intent of the crime.
The defence made its largely clinical case in about a quarter of the time that prosecutors took.
Holmes’ psychosis rendered him incapable of knowing right from wrong at the time of the shooting, she declared flatly.
Holmes’ attorneys also referenced a family history of disorders, including an aunt of Holmes’ who had schizophrenia and a grandfather who was institutionalized.
“I choose not to testify”, Holmes said in a clear, firm voice.
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During a break after the defence rested, Holmes’ parents, Robert and Arlene Holmes, stood up from their seats in the second row of the gallery, his left arm around her shoulder and their heads lowered toward one another for a brief moment.
