Vote Hillary
2016-02-12 03:55:38 UTC
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
nation/wp/2015/08/26/aurora-colo-movie-theater-gunman-formally-
sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-parole/
The gunman who shot and killed 12 people inside a packed Aurora,
Colo., movie theater in 2012 was formally sentenced Wednesday
morning to life in prison without parole.
In July, a jury found James Holmes guilty on each of the 165
charges he faced in the case, unanimously rejecting an argument
made by his attorneys that he was not guilty by reason of
insanity. But last month, the same jury said he should be
sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death by lethal
injection, a surprising decision considering that jurors had
declined earlier opportunities to spare him a death sentence.
District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. announced the sentence at a
formal hearing Wednesday, ending a grueling, emotional trial
that had stretched out for much of this year. As Samour had told
the jurors before they deliberated on Holmess punishment, he
was required to sentence the gunman to life in prison without
parole if the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision.
The defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment without
possibility of parole, Samour read from the bench as Holmes
stood before him. Samour continued to add on additional years
for the Aurora victims as well as those who survived the
massacre.
Samour sentenced Holmes to 12 life sentences, one for each
victim killed in the shooting, as well as 3,318 additional years
for the other counts stemming from the attack.
Holmes was spared the death penalty after one juror said they
would not sentence him to death, according to George Brauchler,
the prosecutor, and one of the other jurors in the case.
The gunman had not denied that he carried out one of the worst
mass shootings in American history. His attorneys had said in a
filing that he was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he
committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and
injuries sustained by moviegoers on July 20, 2012.
Moviegoers were watching a midnight screening of The Dark
Knight Rises in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, when a lone gunman
began firing into the crowd. Holmes calmly and silently marched
through the theater, witnesses said, firing at adults and
children alike.
Prosecutors had argued that Holmes meticulously planned the
crime and focused on carrying out a mass murder, while attorneys
from the Colorado State Public Defender said he was removed from
reality and had lost his mind to psychosis.
Death sentences are rare in Colorado. The state has sentenced 22
people to death between 1973 and 2013, according to federal
figures.
Holmes will now be kept in custody for the remainder of his
natural life, which avoids the lengthy process of appeals that
would accompany a death sentence. Death row inmates nationwide
have spent an average of 14 years under their sentences, and the
Colorado Department of Corrections notes that due to appeals,
inmates will spend at least a decade on death row.
People in Colorado said by a nearly two-to-one margin that they
wanted Holmes to be sentenced to death, according to a
Quinnipiac University Poll released last month. While 63 percent
of voters supported a death sentence, 32 percent favored
imprisonment.
Holmess parents had pleaded for their sons life before the
trial began, saying that while people viewed their son as a
monster, he was instead a man gripped by mental illness.
nation/wp/2015/08/26/aurora-colo-movie-theater-gunman-formally-
sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-parole/
The gunman who shot and killed 12 people inside a packed Aurora,
Colo., movie theater in 2012 was formally sentenced Wednesday
morning to life in prison without parole.
In July, a jury found James Holmes guilty on each of the 165
charges he faced in the case, unanimously rejecting an argument
made by his attorneys that he was not guilty by reason of
insanity. But last month, the same jury said he should be
sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death by lethal
injection, a surprising decision considering that jurors had
declined earlier opportunities to spare him a death sentence.
District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. announced the sentence at a
formal hearing Wednesday, ending a grueling, emotional trial
that had stretched out for much of this year. As Samour had told
the jurors before they deliberated on Holmess punishment, he
was required to sentence the gunman to life in prison without
parole if the jurors could not reach a unanimous decision.
The defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment without
possibility of parole, Samour read from the bench as Holmes
stood before him. Samour continued to add on additional years
for the Aurora victims as well as those who survived the
massacre.
Samour sentenced Holmes to 12 life sentences, one for each
victim killed in the shooting, as well as 3,318 additional years
for the other counts stemming from the attack.
Holmes was spared the death penalty after one juror said they
would not sentence him to death, according to George Brauchler,
the prosecutor, and one of the other jurors in the case.
The gunman had not denied that he carried out one of the worst
mass shootings in American history. His attorneys had said in a
filing that he was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he
committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and
injuries sustained by moviegoers on July 20, 2012.
Moviegoers were watching a midnight screening of The Dark
Knight Rises in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, when a lone gunman
began firing into the crowd. Holmes calmly and silently marched
through the theater, witnesses said, firing at adults and
children alike.
Prosecutors had argued that Holmes meticulously planned the
crime and focused on carrying out a mass murder, while attorneys
from the Colorado State Public Defender said he was removed from
reality and had lost his mind to psychosis.
Death sentences are rare in Colorado. The state has sentenced 22
people to death between 1973 and 2013, according to federal
figures.
Holmes will now be kept in custody for the remainder of his
natural life, which avoids the lengthy process of appeals that
would accompany a death sentence. Death row inmates nationwide
have spent an average of 14 years under their sentences, and the
Colorado Department of Corrections notes that due to appeals,
inmates will spend at least a decade on death row.
People in Colorado said by a nearly two-to-one margin that they
wanted Holmes to be sentenced to death, according to a
Quinnipiac University Poll released last month. While 63 percent
of voters supported a death sentence, 32 percent favored
imprisonment.
Holmess parents had pleaded for their sons life before the
trial began, saying that while people viewed their son as a
monster, he was instead a man gripped by mental illness.