The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Key issues in theater massacre trial
Jury selection in the Colorado theater shooting case is going faster than expected, and attorneys will start questioning individual jurors today, about a week sooner than first thought.
Those chosen will decide whether James Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to numerous counts of murder, met the legal definition of insanity at the time of the July 20, 2012. Twelve people died and 70 others were injured.
If jurors find Holmes, 27, was insane, he would be committed indefinitely to the state psychiatric hospital. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
A look at the key issues in the case:
■ About 420 people were watching a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” when a masked figure stand- ing near the screen tossed gas canisters into the audience and opened fire. Holmes surrendered to police outside the theater. His attorneys have acknowledged that he was the gunman but said he was in the grip of a psy- chotic episode. The people killed included a 6year-old girl, two activeduty servicemen, a single mom and an aspiring broadcaster.
In the second phase of jury selection, attorneys will question possi- ble jurors in depth about their views on capital punishment, mental illness and the criminal justice system. Prosecutors will try to find jurors who have no reservations about the death penalty, while defense attorneys will look for those sympathetic to mental illness and uneasy with the idea of executing a person.
Jurors will be allowed to go home every night but won’t be permitted to discuss the case with anyone. After testimony ends, they can only discuss the case with each other during deliberations. The trial is expected to run through October, and jurors will be shown graphic crime scene photos and hear harrowing testimony from witnesses and survivors. Counseling will be available to them, but only after they have reached a verdict and the trial is over.