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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Jury Is Still Out in|Batman Mass Murder Trial

DENVER (CN) - The jury in the Batman movie mass murder trial made several requests for information Wednesday but did not reach a verdict on their first day of deliberations.

James Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder for the July 20, 2012 massacre in an Aurora movie theater. He killed 12 and wounded 70 at a midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises." His guilt is not at issue. His sanity is.

As jurors' day began at 9 a.m., they asked for a white board to organize their thoughts, and asked if they could get notes from the psychiatrists who evaluated Holmes. They also asked Arapahoe County Judge Carlos Samour Jr. to clarify his instructions on Holmes' insanity plea.

Under Colorado law, an insanity plea applies to people who were too mentally ill to understand the state's laws on morality at the time of the crime. Holmes' five public defenders claim that Holmes' schizoaffective disorder fit the bill.

But District Attorney George Brauchler finished his closing arguments Tuesday by telling the jury that Holmes should be "held responsible."

Holmes is charged with 165 counts, include 12 counts of first-degree murder after deliberation, and with 12 counts of first-degree murder with extreme indifference. He faces 70 counts of attempted murder, and 70 counts of attempted murder with extreme indifference. The final count is for possession of an explosive or incendiary device, for the homemade bombs with which he booby-trapped his apartment, apparently intended for police he expected to go there after the shooting.

If convicted he could be sentenced to death. If not, he will be sent to a mental health hospital in Pueblo, possibly for life.

From the 24 jurors selected, Samour on Monday disclosed the 12 who would deliberate. Local news outlets reported that all 12 jurors are white, and that two who were involved or have family affected by the 1997 mass murder at Columbine High School.

Also on the jury, according to the NBC station 9 News Colorado, are a man from California, an attorney, the mother of a drug addict, a physicist with a degree in psychology, a former paramedic who worked with the mentally ill, a Bed Bath and Beyond store manager, an Army mother, a woman who wanted to hear testimony from Holmes' parents during the trial, a volunteer victims' advocate, and a middle-aged person. Nine jurors are women.

Deliberations continued today.

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