James Holmes sentenced to life in prison in the Aurora theater shooting

[brooklynite]

Source: Denver Post

CENTENNIAL — James Holmes will spend the rest of his life in a prison cell instead of dying in an execution chamber, jurors in the Aurora movie theater shooting trial decided Friday.

After deliberating for less than seven hours over two days, the jury of nine women and three men failed to unanimously agree that death is the appropriate punishment. The disagreement means Judge Carlos Samour Jr. will sentence Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of 12 people at the Century Aurora 16 theater three years ago.

The last time a Colorado jury returned a death sentence was more than six years ago.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/theater-shooting-trial/ci_28601756/aurora-theater-shooting-jurors-begin-watching-gory-video

[dangerous dan]

1. Good. Thank you for the news.

LWP in Pueblo is probably the best thing for Holmes..

[El Supremo]

9. Not Pueblo.

That's the state hospital were he would go if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Moe likely Cañon City, Florence or Sterling.

[dangerous dan]

11. I have a bit of an insider information

Grapevine says San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo - It's Level 5 facility in the State Hospital.

http://www.doc.state.co.us/facility/sccf-san-carlos-correctional-facility

[El Supremo]

13. Hopefully you're right.

Lets see what Samour thinks.

[TBF]

36. That looks right from what we heard

in the press. I only favor the death penalty in very extreme cases (Timothy McVeigh type). This looks like the right setting for Holmes.

[The Second Stone]

2. I'd like to thank the jurors for their service

this must have been a very difficult case to sit on.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. That is good news, and I'm sure his parents are relieved beyond words. n/t

[MicaelS]

4. While I support the DP...

This was the proper decision in this case.

[tammywammy]

5. Surprising

He's clearly mentally ill, I hope he gets help in prison.

[derby378]

6. It'll be interesting to see how the families of the shooting victims respond (n/t)

[dangerous dan]

8. The same parents that lost their lawsuit against Bushmaster

tweeted (and I'm paraphrasing) that "they were disappointed at the prosecutor. The defense attorney made a plea offer of LWP, and the DA turned it down"

The Arapahoe County DA was doing it for political ambition - fortunately the Republican can't get any ambition going.

[El Supremo]

14. One grandfather is saying it was a jury plant.

He can't believe it after all the other verdicts.

[Yo_Mama]

15. I expected it. He is clearly acutely mentally ill.

He didn't fit the legal definition of innocence due to insanity, but executing this man would be an aberration of justice.

The jury did the right thing. Juries often do.

I hope they will be able to recover from what must have been a harrowing experience.

[gvstn]

35. He is mentally ill. One look tells you that.

The jury did the right thing. I hope he gets the medical help he clearly needs. Killing him would not have been the right thing to do.

[Doctor_J]

7. Works for me

Too bad the gun and ammo merchants got off.

[Warren Stupidity]

10. the jury made the right decision.

State executions make killing acceptable.

[HFRN]

12. death penelty would have been getting off too easy

stick in the needle - sleepy time

instead, he will spend perhaps the next 60 years waking up to the same old same old

[exboyfil]

19. Richard Speck adapted to it quite well

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/16/us/killer-s-prison-video-sparks-illinois-lawmakers-outrage.html

[Lucky Luciano]

24. Usually it takes 20 years to zap the bastard,

So they do a lot of hard time __and then__ they get the needle.

[Coventina]

16. Thank Goodness! n/t

[curlyred]

17. Relieved and surprised

With a bloodthirsty prosecutor and a frenzied Denver media, I am surprised. But relieved: anyone committing a mass murder of strangers like this is obviously insane. As a society we should not kill those who are less than whole.

[RBInMaine]

22. No, most mass murderers are sane and know exactly what they are doing.

Most mass murderers do the mass murder (crimes like this guy "going postal&quot because of a combination of loss, frustration, and isolation. They are not "crazy". Some, though, do have larger mental health issues. But most know just what they are doing and know it is wrong, immoral, horrible, and illegal. They do it because they are out to "punish". This guy's behavior was entirely pre-planned. Very meticulous planning, including the careful booby trapping of his apartment. No one entirely out of reality plans like that. Not saying he doesn't have mental health problems, but he should never see the light of day again. The man PLANNED to walk into a movie theater, dressed and well armed for this, and senselessly murdered many innocent people. Again, is was THOROUGHLY PLANNED. He was frustrated, angry, isolated, a loner, and wanted to "punish" society, which is the motive of many of these kinds of murderers. And then think of Lee Harvey Oswald and his type of crime. Yes, he had some mental health issues. But he meticulously planned his crime because he wanted to "punish" America. Think of OJ Simpson. He did his murders because he was obsessed with his ex wife, wanted to control her, and wanted to "punish" her for "humiliating" him. He was ANGRY. With most serial killers, they are very planned in how they operate, meticulous, know just what they are doing, and they do it because they ENJOY it. Often it is connected to a wild desire for power, control, and sexual domination, all intertwined. They love the hunt. Ted Bundy murdered somewhere around 30 women. Was he crazy? He most likely had certain disturbances, but he knew just what he was doing and enjoyed it. And when they fried him, GOOD.

[postatomic]

26. Who did James Holmes plan on punishing?

Just curious.

[El Supremo]

28. Your lack of paragraphs makes this hard to read but...

from what I can understand you are totally wrong.

Where have you read that he wanted to "punish" anyone. He himself said that he wanted to increase his "self worth". A totally non-understandable reason coming from a delusional person.

[maxsolomon]

18. I am opposed to Life Without Parole as well as the death Penalty

He's Schizophrenic. What does L w/o P accomplish in his case, other than vengeance?

Does it deter other Schizophrenics from acquiring semi-automatic weapons and committing similar atrocities? They are DELUSIONAL; punishment won't enter into their mental calculus.

I'd rather he'd been killed at the scene.

[RBInMaine]

21. Well, he was with it enough to plan meticulously for this including booby trapping his apt.

It took tremendous aforethought and planning. Not to say he isn't nuts, but he's a smart and well-planned nut.

[RBInMaine]

23. No, most know just what they are doing and shouldn't see the light of day ever again.

Tell it to the victims and their families.

[maxsolomon]

40. Most Schizophrenics know what they are doing?

Are they making rational decisions? I had always thought they were delusional and mentally ill.

I'll be glad to tell the victims and their families that the mentally ill don't deserve life in prison without possibility of parole. Give them the possibility of parole in 40, 50 years.

Even that asshole Brevik only got 21 years (albeit with the ability to extend his incarceration as long as deemed necessary).

[christx30]

38. Since he wasn't killed at the scene,

what would you suggest? Let him go? Put him in a hospital?
He's too crazy to really do anything with. There is nothing worthwhile there at that.

Just put him somewhere where he can't hurt anyone. Keep him there until he dies. Don't give him any access to outside communication. Don't let him inspire anyone. When he does die, put a 20 second bit on the late news. Don't show him as a strong young man, just as what 10 or 20 years in a supermax can do to you.

[maxsolomon]

39. I'd say put him in a hospital, like Hinkley or Chapman

don't let him out for decades. maybe when he's 80.

[christx30]

41. He should be in prison as long

as victims remain dead. His insanity didn't help his victims. It shouldn't help him.

[maxsolomon]

42. The quality of mercy is not strained

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.

What you want is Vengeance. That should not be the goal of Justice.

[TheCowsCameHome]

20. Supermax?

[El Supremo]

27. That's the Feds.

Not Colorado.

[postatomic]

25. The Defense had this offer on the table

Before the Trials began. The DA refused. The Defense said he'd plead guilty for Life in Prison. Could have saved the County a ton of money and the jurors a ton of emotional testimony had the ego of the DA had not been in play here.

[underpants]

29. I heard it reported completely differently on local RW radio

[Hoppy]

30. Are they still blaming it on Hillary?

[dbackjon]

46. Benghazi!

[davidpdx]

31. That ended up being the best verdict that could be given

I'm opposed to the DP and glad he got life without parole. Hopefully he gets some help in prison.

[maxsolomon]

43. Very sad that prisons are now our de facto Mental Institutions

Their mission is rehabilitation and punishment, not treatment.

He would get "help" in a mental institution, like Chapman and Hinkley do.

[davidpdx]

44. I agree that rehabilitation should be the goal in most cases for most of those convicted of a crime

Given the severity of Holmes crimes he should never be released from prison. That doesn't preclude him from getting some help.

Holmes had the chance to plead insanity and failed. Chapman attempted to and changed his mind at the last minute. Hinckley was able to prove insanity. The three situations were different.

[Aristus]

32. Good. No to the death penalty. Yes to rock-hard punishment.

I don't believe this guy is insane. Except in the over-arching sense that anyone who murders another human being is insane.

What I mean is: I refuse to believe that he isn't responsible for his actions. As has been pointed out above, he planned this very meticulously. The complicated booby-traps he set in his apartment are a sharp declaration that he knew what he was about to do was wrong.

Several people have said they hope he gets mental health help in prison, and I can understand that hope. I just don't know what good it would do. He's never getting out. He will never heal into the kind of person society needs him to be.

He wasted his life. And he was selfish enough to waste twelve others first.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. He should be in a hospital. The whole thing is a farce.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

34. I'm glad this nut won't be casting a shadow over a death penalty repeal in Colorado

I'm surprised but pleased by the outcome.

[Sunlei]

37. sometimes a jury makes a decision I'm satisified with.

[BigDemVoter]

45. He's one sick fuck. . .

And life in a hospital for the criminally insane would have been more appropriate.