He will be granted one last chance at life, in which evidence will be presented before the jury by both sides that will decide the fate of Holmes.
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Jurors who kept the death penalty as an option for Colorado theater shooter James Holmes are expected to start hearing testimony from victims’ relatives in the last phase of Holmes’ sentencing hearing.
Their quick decision raised expectations that they will choose a death sentence after what prosecutors estimate will be two or three more days of testimony from survivors. Had even one broken ranks yesterday then the worst that Holmes would have faced would have be life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Holmes’ attorneys urged the jury to give Holmes a life sentence and end the months-long trial.
Sandy Phillips said she and her husband no longer celebrate Thanksgiving because it falls so near the November 27 birthday of her daughter, Jessica Ghawi, another victim.
Court returned at 3:15 p.m.to go over jury instructions. Jurors quickly decided that Holmes was guilty of four aggravating factors when he swathed himself in body armor and blasted his way through the Century 16 multiplex during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises“. Rena Medek began silently sobbing when the judge read the name of her 23-year-old daughter Micayla.
Tamara Brady, one of Holmes’ lawyers, told Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. they probably would not call any witnesses of their own. They said that it was schizophrenia, not free will, that drove him to murder.
Colorado law dictates that the death penalty can only be carried out by means of a “continuous intravenous injection of a lethal quantity of sodium thiopental or other equally or more effective substance”.
The same jury earlier rejected an insanity defense in convicting Holmes in the shootings.
“We’re very happy that the outcome came as quickly as it did and that the jurors are taking this as seriously as they are”, she said.
In Monday’s preliminary verdict, jurors found simply that Holmes’ mental problems and the portrait his attorneys painted of a kinder, gentler younger man did not outweigh the horrors of his calculated attack on defenseless moviegoers.
The decision clears the way for another round of arguments before the jury makes a final decision between capital punishment and life in prison without parole.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before reaching their latest decision. In this case, however, the defense may not be able to avoid a death penalty for the shooter.
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Holmes, who killed 12 people and wounded 70, showed no reaction as the verdicts were delivered, staring straight ahead, hands in pockets.
