Colorado shooter sentenced to life in prison

CENTENNIAL, COLO.— In a stunning conclusion to a harrowing trial, jurors weighing James E. Holmes’ fate could not reach a unanimous verdict, and the Aurora, Colo., gunman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He was convicted on 165 counts, including first-degree murder and attempted murder, for the 2012 theatre rampage that left 12 dead and 70 others wounded.

The trial ended with two days of testimony by family members of the victims, stories of loss that brought witnesses and jurors to tears: the 19year-old who said her father’s death left her family “broken”; the parents who see no future ahead, now that their daughter is gone.

Testimony about the gunman’s meticulous planning and desire to “kill as many people as possible” trumped efforts by Holmes’ distraught parents to humanize the murderer they called “Jimmy,” the mentally ill man they still love, even after he carried out one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.

Jurors reached their verdict after the judge granted their request earlier in the day to rewatch a graphic crime scene video taken immediately after the massacre. The 45 minutes of footage, played during the trial, shows 10 bodies lying amid spent shell casings, popcorn and blood. The same jurors rejected Holmes’ insanity defence and convicted him of murdering 12 people and trying to kill 70 others three years ago during a midnight showing of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises in suburban Denver.

The decision follows more than three months of often emotional testimony from those who survived the attack — some in wheelchairs — and the children and parents left to figure out their lives without their loved ones.