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 After deliberating since Wednesday, the panel of nine women and
three men said prosecutors proved at least one such factor connected
with the rampage in which Holmes killed 12 and wounded 70 at a
midnight premiere of a Batman film in a Denver suburb.
The trial has now advanced to mitigation, with the jury hearing the
first few witnesses called by the convicted killer's attorneys. The
punishment phase of the proceedings is expected to last about a
month.
Defense lawyer Rebekka Higgs told jurors that during the mitigation
phase they will hear all about Holmes' life, because they are now
responsible for it.
Earlier, Holmes stood and stared straight ahead, expressionless,
hands in pockets, as Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos
Samour read the jury's latest verdict forms about the aggravating
factors.
The former neuroscience graduate student's demeanor was identical
last week when he was found guilty on all 165 counts of murder,
attempted murder and explosives offensives.
This week, the prosecution presented five factors which the state
said made the crimes especially depraved. Among these factors,
prosecutors said, were that Holmes committed the killings in an
"especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner," as well as "while
lying in wait or from ambush."
On Wednesday, prosecutor Rich Orman showed photographs of wounded
victims, and said the shooter behaved in a "pitiless" way that was
"unnecessarily tortuous" for those in the cinema that summer night.
"It's dark. It's crowded ... They were trapped in there," Orman told
the jury. "Any human being would know that there was nothing they
could do to protect themselves, nothing they could do to stop him
from killing them, and that death was imminent."
The jurors agreed the state proved four factors, but not that Holmes
intentionally killed a child.
While his youngest victim, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, was just 6, a
court-appointed psychiatrist testified during the trial that Holmes
told him he chose a midnight screening because he believed fewer
children would be present.
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Holmes' attorneys are likely to highlight his lack of any previous
criminal record, and the severe mental illness they say he suffers.
They called several witnesses on Thursday including a clerk at an
elementary school Holmes attended in California.
Suzanne Diaz referred to him as "Jimmy" throughout, and described
him as a popular, well-behaved boy who was never in trouble.
"You loved him?" asked defense attorney Higgs.
"Yes," Diaz said. "We love all of our kids."
"Are you here to support him?" Higgs asked.
"Yes," the witness replied.
If jurors decide unanimously that the mitigating factors outweigh
the aggravating ones, Holmes will get an automatic life sentence. If
not, they will hear victim impact testimony, then ultimately
deliberate on whether he will be executed by lethal injection.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Additional reporting and writing by
Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Gregorio)
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