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 After less than a day of deliberations, and in a surprise to many
legal experts and those in the packed courtroom, the jurors said
they were unable to reach a unanimous decision condemning Holmes to
execution. They found him guilty last month on all counts for his
July 20, 2012 massacre. Seventy people were also wounded.
Holmes showed no reaction. The former neuroscience graduate student
stared straight ahead with his hands in his pockets as the judge
announced the decision.
The verdict brings to an end an often-delayed, lengthy, and
high-profile trial just a little more than three years after his
rampage in a suburban Denver multiplex put a spotlight on gun
control, mental illness and security in public spaces.
Sandy Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi was murdered by Holmes,
commiserated outside the courtroom after the verdict with a
wheelchair-bound survivor, Caleb Medley.
"Justice is not served. Sorry, Caleb," she told him. As two members
of Holmes' court-appointed defense team walked past, Phillips said:
"I wonder how it feels to save the life of a mass murderer? Good
job."
 Nine jurors were in favor of the death penalty, a member of the
panel said later. One was against execution, and the other two were
on the fence, she said, without giving her name.
"I think primarily it was the mental illness," Juror 17 told
reporters, referring to the reasoning given by the hold-out.
Because the jurors could not agree, Holmes serves a mandatory life
sentence with no possibility of parole. They would have had to be
unanimous for a death penalty to be imposed. The defense had said
Holmes suffers from schizophrenia and was not in control of his
actions.
In his closing argument to the jury, District Attorney George
Brauchler had argued that the gunman deserved to die for the "horror
and evil" he wrought inside the screening of "The Dark Knight Rises"
at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora.
Dozens of wounded survivors testified during the trial about how
they attempted to hide from his hail of bullets, some of them
steel-penetrating rounds, or stumbled over the bodies of loved ones
as they tried to flee.
Prosecutors said Holmes aimed to slaughter all 400 theater goers.
But he failed to kill more, they said, in part because a drum
magazine he bought to boost his firepower jammed.
'HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED'
Brauchler told a news conference after the verdict that he was
disappointed and had failed. But he thanked the jurors for doing "a
hell of a job" under intense scrutiny.
"I don't think there's any doubt that he got what he wanted," the
prosecutor said of the gunman.
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The proceedings against Holmes began in late April and reached
penalty phase closing arguments on Thursday after 60 days of trial,
306 witnesses, and the introduction of nearly 2,700 pieces of
evidence.
While the jury rejected Holmes' plea of not guilty by reason of
insanity during the guilt phase of the trial, defense lawyer Tamara
Brady had said all the doctors the panel heard from in court agreed
that he was nonetheless seriously mentally ill.
In her closing argument, Brady had asked the jurors whether they
were ready to sign the death warrant of a mentally ill person, and
she said they would have to live with that decision for the rest of
their lives.
Holmes had remained mostly expressionless throughout the trial,
occasionally turning to look when a photograph of himself appeared
on a court television. His attorneys say his "aloof or distracted"
demeanor is caused by anti-psychosis drugs he is given which treat,
but do not cure, his mental illness.
It was not immediately clear where Holmes will serve his life
sentence. He could be transferred out of state.
Holmes graduated with honors from the University of California,
Riverside, and had no previous criminal record. But he had been
seeing a school psychiatrist and dropped out of a graduate program
at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora
just weeks before the attack.
He bought a ticket for the screening before slipping out to his car
behind the building, and changing into what prosecutors called a
"kill suit" of ballistic helmet, gas mask, and head-to-toe body
armor.
He returned and threw a teargas canister into the theater, then
opened fire. Police officers arrested Holmes outside. When asked if
he had an accomplice, he replied: "No, it's just me."
He declined to testify in his own defense.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Additional reporting and writing by
Daniel Wallis; Editing by David Gregorio, Alden Bentley and Lisa
Shumaker)
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