Aurora Theater Shooter James Holmes Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole
Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday, after the jury failed to come to a unanimous vote on the death penalty.
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The jurors, the same nine women and three men who found Holmes guilty of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of twelve people in July 2012 and rejected his insanity defense, deliberated for roughly seven hours before reaching a decision, BuzzFeed News reports.
A death penalty sentence required a unanimous decision from the twelve jurors, which they were unable to reach after deliberation. The jury heard emotional testimony from friends and family of Holmes’ victims in the weeks leading up to their sentencing decision.
On July 16, after a trial that lasted nearly three months, jurors found Holmes guilty on all 165 charges against him, which included two counts of first-degree murder for each of the 12 victims. Holmes also wounded 70 in his rampage, which prosecutors argued was methodically planned.
Holmes’ defense team did not dispute his crimes, but plead for insanity, claiming that the former neuroscience grad student was a victim of mental illness.
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