Jury Selection in Colo. Theater Shooting Trial Will Take Weeks: Expert
Unlike most states, Colorado puts the burden on the prosecution to prove a defendant is not insane
•
As NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports: Finding 12 jurors and 12 alternates who will agree to impartially weigh the evidence against James Holmes won’t be easy.
James Holmes, 27, could face the death penalty if convicted of killing 12 people and injuring 70 more. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Holmes once lived with his parents, Robert and Arlene, in Rancho Penasquitos and attended Westview High School, as well as UC Riverside.
NBCSanDiego
James Holmes, the man who opened fire inside a Colorado movie theater, once lived in this home on Sparren Avenue in Rancho Penasquitos. Here, San Diego police officers stand guard out front the morning after the shooting in July 2012.
James Holmes in his booking photo.
NBCSanDiego
James Holmes appeared inside a courtroom for the first time Monday, July 23, 2012.
NBCSanDiego
Holmes appeared with his hair dyed red and orange.
NBCSanDiego
At times, Holmes closed his eyes and gazed at the floor.
Artie Ojeda
Neighbor Anthony Mai, 16, said he knew Holmes his entire life and had a hard time believing his friend could be responsible for such a violent act.
James Holmes in his 2006 Westview High School yearbook and in an image released by the University of Colorado (R).
Claire Sampankanpanich
James Holmes seen during a summer internship program that included the brightest science students in the county.
Holmes attending a science camp in Miramar in 2006.
Neighbors brought out old yearbooks to show the young man they all knew as "Jimmy" in earlier years.
Helicopters hovered above the Rancho Penasquitos early Friday morning after news spread that the suspect's parents lived here in San Diego.
NBCSanDiego
Media converged on the home of James Holmes' parents Robert and Arlene Holmes on Sparren Avenue. SDPD said they were called to the location by someone in the home.
Before 9 a.m., a man identified by San Diego police as Holmes' father, left the home and headed to the airport.
NBCSanDiego
Holmes' father got into an unmarked police vehicle and left without saying anything to cameras.
NBCSanDiego
In line at Lindbergh Field, television cameras followed Holmes' father asking for any information about his son and were told only "No comment."
NBCSanDiego
SDPD Lt. Andra Brown addressed the media and released a statement from the family asking for their privacy as they process the information.
Mark Leimbach
The written statement handed out to the media outside the Holmes family home.
Getty Images
A woman identified by neightbors as James Holmes' sister Chris was escorted by police from the home of Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of 24-year-old mass shooting suspect James Holmes, on July 20.
NBCSanDiego
Yearbook photo of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes.
Getty Images
Lisa Domiani, an attorney speaking for Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of of mass shooting suspect James Holmes, talks to reporters as she leaves the family home July 20, 2012
Artie Ojeda
Around 10 a.m. Friday, a family friend left the home on Sparren Avenue. The photographer approaching the unidentified woman is from "Inside Edition."
Getty Images
Television news trucks set up along the street in front of the home of Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of 24-year-old mass shooting suspect James Holmes
Investigators search James Holmes' white Hyundai left parked outside the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said Holmes did not resist arrest when he was found by officers behind the movie theater armed and wearing all black battle gear. Watch news conference here.
Getty Images
The crush of media following another family friend outside the Holmes the property.
NBCSanDiego
Yearbook photo of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes.
James Holmes graduated from Westview HS in 2006. Poway Unified School District Superintendent John Collins released a statement sending his deepest condolences to the victims and their families on behalf of the school district.
NBCSanDiego
Local business owner David Casper owns a pawn shop in Hillcrest. He says suspect James Holmes visited his shop several times in the last year and asked about firearms.
The prosecution and defense have depicted different sides of Holmes, but which one will the jurors see? A cold-blooded killer, or a man so mentally ill that in a psychotic episode, he orchestrated one of the worst mass killings in U.S. history?
Toni Blake is a jury consultant by day and a psychology professor at Mesa College by night. Death penalty cases are her specialty
“It's going to take several weeks. They are going to have to screen thousands of jurors,” Blake said.
[[289153981,C]]
Nine thousand summons were mailed to prospective jurors of Arapahoe County, Colorado -- nearly one for every 50 residents. Finding 12 jurors and 12 alternates who will agree to impartially weigh the evidence against Holmes will not be easy.
[[289056061,C]]
“The prosecution wants somebody who is less sympathetic to mental illness, somebody who says, ‘Nope it doesn't matter,’” Blake said.
The defense is looking for just the opposite. Court filings claim Holmes was in the throes of a psychotic episode at the time of the shooting.
According to Blake, both sides will not be looking strictly at demographics. They will also weigh personality types and exposure to mental illness.
Neighbors, who asked not to be identified, say 24-year-old James Holmes “was off.” Another neighbor described him as “socially awkward, quiet and sometimes, would just stare.” NBC 7s Brandi Powell reports.
The trial will be held in the same jurisdiction where the defendant fired multiple shots in a crowded Aurora theater during a "The Dark Knight Rises" showing in July 2012.
[[289095861,C]]
Prosecutors say for two years before the shooting, Holmes amassed a cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives. He even booby trapped his apartment for anyone who might enter.
“It's going to very, very difficult. It's in the jurisdiction where every time these people go to the movie theater, they think about this,” said Blake.
She believes this is the prosecutor’s case to lose.
The suspect in the Colorado movie theater shooting, a graduate of Westview High School in San Diego, was dressed all in black and wore tactical battle gear. Aurora, Colo., Police Chief Dan Oates updates the public about 11 hours after the deadly rampage.
Unlike most states though, Colorado has a burden on the prosecution to prove the defendant is not insane.
Also in that state, Blake pointed out, the defense needs just one juror to vote for life in prison, and the death penalty is thrown out, leaving the prosecution with no opportunity to appeal it.
NBC 7s Megan Tevrizian reports from Sparren Avenue, outside the family home of James Holmes. Holmes was arrested after a midnight shooting inside an Aurora, Colorado movie theater showing the new Batman movie.
Holmes’ parents pleaded for his life to be spared in a letter released in December. They say their son is “not a monster” and should not get the death penalty because he is mentally ill.
