James Holmes sentenced to life in prison for Colorado massacre after jury splits

DENVER — Aurora theater shooter James Eagan Holmes escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole Friday after a Colorado jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.

The verdict stunned onlookers, given that Holmes’ guilt was never in doubt and that the jury only deliberated for seven hours. The nine women and three men began deliberations Thursday afternoon and resumed Friday morning at the Arapahoe County Courthouse.

Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read the same verdict shortly after 5 p.m. Mountain time 12 times for each of the 12 people killed by Holmes in the shooting.

“We the jury do not have a unanimous final sentencing verdict on this count, and we the jury understand that as a result, the court will impose a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on this count,” said the judge.

Holmes stood and watched the judge read the verdicts with no visible reaction, his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants. The verdict was live-streamed on several Colorado news stations.

Whether Holmes would be sentenced to death was the only real question of the 15-week trial, given that his guilt was never in doubt. The 27-year-old former graduate student was found guilty July 16 on 165 charges stemming from the shooting that left 12 dead and 70 wounded.

Holmes, who had a history of mental illness, had pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. During the sentencing phase, his attorneys had argued that he should not be put to death because he lacked the mental capacity to understand his actions.

The defense urged jurors to consider his delusional and “psychotic” mental state, while Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler argued that Holmes was capable of distinguishing right from wrong, calling him “sane beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“Is mental illness going to be a shield here to protect someone who had the capacity to make decisions?” Mr. Brauchler said. “Nobody in their right mind could plan the massacre of a theater full of human beings. We should take comfort in that. But not having the right mind does not protect you from the ramifications of your decisions.”

Shortly after midnight on July 20, 2012, Holmes burst into the Aurora Century 16 during the premier of “The Dark Knight Rises,” a Batman sequel. He ignited a tear-gas canister and then began shooting, using an arsenal he had purchased in the previous few months.

Terrified moviegoers fled the theater. Holmes, who wore a ballistic helmet, a gas mask, black gloves and bulletproof gear, was arrest in the theater parking lot about seven minutes after the first 911 call.

Holmes’ parents, Arlene and Robert Holmes, attended the trial and testified that they had no idea that their son had the capacity for such violence.

“[H]e didn’t give any indication he was homicidal or depressed, at least not to us,” Mr. Holmes said in testimony during the sentencing phase.

Mrs. Holmes blamed his University of Colorado campus psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, for failing to tell them that he had homicidal thoughts.

“We wouldn’t be sitting here if she had told me that!” Mrs. Holmes said in emotional testimony.

Killed in the massacre were Jonathan Blunk, Alexander Boik, Jesse Childress, Gordon Cowden, Jessica Ghawi, John Thomas Larimer, Matthew McQuinn, Micayla Medek, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, Alex Sullivan, Alexander Teves and Rebecca Ann Wingo.

Among the most sympathetic survivors of the shooting was Ashley Moser, who was paralyzed in the gunfire and now uses a wheelchair. She lost her daughter, six-year-old Veronica, as well as her unborn baby.

“I don’t know who I am anymore, ’cause I was a mom when I was 18, and that’s all I knew how to be,” Ms. Moser told jurors Wednesday.

*This story was based in part on wire-service reports.