Jurors’ questions aim at heart of theater shooting

CENTENNIAL, Colo.—A neuroscience professor was nearly finished testifying about the Colorado theater shooter’s lackluster lab performance when a juror scrawled out a question, passed to the judge on a slip of paper: Did James Holmes ever seem disconnected from reality?

It was one of more than 100 questions jurors have asked of witnesses in the first two weeks of Holmes’ death penalty trial, showing they’re already cutting through descriptions of mayhem in the theater to grapple with the central question they will have to answer: Was Holmes legally insane when he began shooting?

These jurors seem astute, engaged and curious about details, from how Holmes moved through the theater during the chaos, to the science of the explosive booby traps in his apartment, to whether his eyes were dilated and bloodshot immediately after his arrest. On Tuesday, one juror asked how Holmes behaved when he bought bomb-making materials at a chemical supply store.

“They are acting like detectives,” Dallasbased litigation consultant Alison K. Bennett said. “They are trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Most states don’t allow jurors to be so active. Colorado is one of three that require judges to allow jurors to query witnesses. At least six states forbid the practice. Others let judges decide.

Holmes’ jurors are using this privilege liberally, scribbling questions for bailiffs to pass to Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. The judge then reviews them with attorneys for both sides and asks the witness those he deems appropriate.

The real-time feedback can give attorneys clues about what they should emphasize in a trial that could continue into September. Taking the jurors’ cue, prosecutors have since asked others from the grad school if Holmes seemed detached from reality, and all have said no.

But the questions don’t necessarily reveal how jurors are leaning, legal experts say.