Holmes gets Life for 2012 Aurora, CO, Theater shooting
Matt BosterViewed: 1361
Posted by: Matt Boster
Date: Aug 08 2015 4:22 PM
CENTENNIAL, CO (RNN) - James Holmes will serve life in prison for the murders of 12 people in the 2012 shooting at an Aurora, CO, theater. He wounded an additional 70 people.
The jury that convicted him of 24 counts of murder last month did not reach a unanimous conclusion that he should get the death penalty, which automatically resulted in a sentence of life with no chance of parole.
The trial began on April 27. Over the ensuing weeks, jurors reviewed almost 2,700 pieces of evidence and heard the testimony of 302 witnesses. When they began final deliberations on Thursday, the Denver Post reported that Judge Carlos Samour Jr. said the verdict "...may be the most important and serious decision that you will ever be asked to make."
The same jury of nine women and three men on July 16, 2015 found him guilty on all 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and possession of explosives, By Colorado law, the subsequent sentencing trial had three phases. The jury first ruled the crime was worthy of the death penalty. In the second phase jurors were unmoved by testimony from the defendant's family and friends that Holmes' mental illness and lack of a previous record merited a penalty of life without parole.
But in the final phase of the sentencing trial, the jury's inability to achieve a unanimous final sentencing verdict.
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