Jury keeps death penalty as possibility for Colorado movie gunman Holmes

After that, the jury will deliberate yet again to make its final decision whether to sentence Holmes to death or to life in prison with no parole.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour last week and 90 minutes this morning before reaching their verdict. But Robert Holmes acknowledged they rarely communicated with Holmes in the months before the shooting and, in his family, emotions just weren’t talked about. The trail now moves to the third phase, where the same jury will vote whether to sentence Holmes to life in prison or death by lethal injection. Similarly, they will not be allowed to testify about attending the trial or the impact that media coverage of the case has had on their life.

Samour carefully leafed through the papers the jury foreman handed over, and tension built in the courtroom as people waited to hear if Holmes would be spared the death penalty.

Jurors struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as a grieving father described how he returns now and then to the Colorado theater where his son was murdered.

Jurors Monday 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. In August, 2012, Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others in a mass shooting at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

Last week, members of the jury were given the chance to rule out the death penalty after hearing the testimonies of witnesses in defense of James Holmes. He rigged his apartment with explosives to divert emergency crews to the home while he carried out the shooting.

Even one juror’s objection to capital punishment will mean life without parole for Holmes, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. said, but any mercy or sympathy for the defendant must be based on the evidence. But Dr. Jeffrey Metzner also said severe mental illness and delusions drove Holmes to kill, rather than hatred or a desire for notoriety.

Holmes had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, with defense attorneys arguing that the 27-year-old neuroscience student had suffered a psychotic break and thus was not responsible for his actions in the massacre.

Phillips won’t be able to tell jurors that she attended the trial every day in honor of her daughter or talk about her effort to change gun laws.