'Batman' massacre gunman guilty of murder
July 17, 2015
Twelve judges on Thursday found James Holmes guilty of killing 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, near Denver, Colorado, on July 20, 2012. Jury members deliberated for a day and a half and found Holmes guilty of all 165 counts against him.
Prosecutor George Brauchler described the events of the day of the shooting.
"They came in hoping to see a story of a hero dressed in black…instead a different figure appeared by the screen all dressed in black. And he came there with one thing on his heart and in his mind - and that was mass murder," Brauchler said.
Holmes' 49-day trial included weeks of evidence and testimony from around 250 witnesses. The defense argued that Holmes struggled with mental illness, with his lawyer Dan King insisting that his client "had lost touch with reality" while carrying out his shooting. He had a long history of mental illness and had been trying to get treatment shortly before the massacre.
The jurors and the state's psychiatrists, however, refused to accept that argument. Prosecutors also showed jurors a notebook in which the 27-year-old had meticulously planned the killing and were looking into seeking the death penalty for Holmes.
Holmes unleashed his gun at moviegoers during a screening of the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," in 2012. Twelve people died, and 70 people were wounded in the shooting.
mg/gsw (AFP, dpa, Reuters)