After 11 weeks, closing arguments in the trial of Aurora, Colorado, theater shooter James Holmes are scheduled to start Tuesday, and the jury is expected to start deliberations on Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). If the jury finds him NGRI, the trial will be over and the defendant will be sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHI). If he is found guilty, there will be a month-long sentencing phase.
The admitted gunman faces 166 charges, including first degree murder, for opening fire on a crowded premiere of 鈥淭he Dark Knight Rises鈥 in the Century 16 theaters on July 20, 2012.
Here are 10 of the most notable aspects in the 47-day trial.
1. OPENING STATEMENTS
On April 27, the prosecution and defense each had two hours to lay out their cases and if you weren鈥檛 watching, you missed a condensed version of the 11 weeks ahead.
Prosecutor George Brauchler gave the 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 of opening statements. In just under two hours, he presented 837 slides, played videos and portions of a 911 call, and lifted a heavy evidence bag of ammunition to show the packed courtroom. 鈥淭hrough these doors,鈥 he told the jury, victims鈥 families and media, 鈥400 people went to be entertained and one person came to slaughter them.鈥 As he showed pictures on three courtroom monitors, repeating the word 鈥淏oom.鈥 Brauchler is seeking the death penalty in the case.
When it was his turn, public defender Dan King waved around the world鈥檚 first and only glimpse of one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the case 鈥 the killer鈥檚 notebook. 鈥淲hen James Holmes stepped into that theater in July of 2012, he was insane,鈥 he said. As the first day of trial ended, you could hear the sobs in the courtroom and people walked out visibly shaken.
2. VICTIMS鈥 TESTIMONY
Many of the victims who testified had severe injuries, the effects of which some will live with for the rest of their lives. The prosecution鈥檚 line-up made sure that the first and last victims鈥 stories were the most memorable. On the first day of testimony, Caleb Medley鈥檚 father rolled him to the witness stand in his wheelchair. The night before the shooting, Medley did a stand-up comedy routine. Three days later, he was having brain surgery on one floor of the hospital while his first-born child was being delivered on another. Because of speech issues, he used an alphabet board and a pointer to spell his answers.
The DA鈥檚 star witness, Ashley Moser, was paralyzed as well, but also suffered a miscarriage due to her injuries and was the mother of 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the only child killed in the theater. Moser鈥檚 tearful testimony ending the prosecution鈥檚 case on a Friday afternoon had gut-wrenching impact.
3. FIRST RESPONDERS
Dozens of police officers, firefighters and medical personnel who rushed to the scene testified, some of them describing the movie still playing amidst the carnage inside the theater. Many of them described how they transported severely injured victims in their patrol cars because there weren鈥檛 enough ambulances. It was heartbreaking to watch tough men in uniform break down as they described that night. Aurora police Sgt. Michael Hawkins was on the 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. swing shift when he got the call and drove 100 miles per hour to the theater. He is a big man and his voice broke as he described how Veronica Moser-Sullivan bled on him as he carried her tiny body out of the theater. 鈥淚 realized she was probably gone,鈥 he sobbed.
4. THE BOOBY-TRAPPED APARTMENT
The jury was riveted as explosives experts described how the defendant rigged his apartment with an elaborate Mousetrap game of chemicals and home-made devices triggered to catch fire, including pickle jars filled with napalm, gasoline-filled pop bottles and plastic spheres loaded with gun powder. The floor was so gasoline-soaked, the ceiling in the apartment below sagged with its weight. FBI Special Agent Grant Gumbinner described three different ignition systems, including one in the entryway of the apartment. 鈥淚n the door you could see a fishing line attached to a thermos which was sitting on sneakers,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he thermos was sitting over a frying pan full of an ingredient 鈥 potassium permanganate.鈥
5. THE NOTEBOOK
The prosecution had a detective on the witness stand read portions of one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the case: Holmes鈥 29 page manifesto. He mailed the spiral notebook he titled 鈥(Course) of Life鈥 to his psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Medical School just hours before the shooting. Completely handwritten, it details his plans with stick figure drawings and theater diagrams. There is self-diagnosis, and motive for the killings, which the shooter called his theory of 鈥渉uman capitol,鈥 that is, for every person he killed, his life increases in value. He later explained in psychiatric evaluation interviews that he wrote it 鈥溾o educate this psychiatrist so something like this wouldn鈥檛 happen again. If I died it would have told my story.鈥
6. AUTOPSY PHOTOS
Unaltered autopsy photos of all 12 victims were shown to the jury as the two coroners who did the examinations explained the injuries they suffered using a life-sized mannequin standing stiffly in a corner. The first one was perhaps the most powerful 鈥 pictures and X-rays of 6-year-old victim Moser-Sullivan. Tissue boxes were passed around the jury box as many wiped their eyes. Even Arapahoe County Coroner Michael Doberson had a hard time. 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry for this,鈥 he said.
7. 22 HOURS OF VIDEO-TAPED INTERVIEWS
It took six days, but the jury watched every second of 22 hours of psychiatric interviews the defendant, unrestrained in jail clothing, gave to court-appointed psychiatrist Dr. William Reid. It was the jury鈥檚 only chance to hear from him, as he has announced in court Thursday that he will not to take the stand.
The chilling interview got rough for families when the admitted gunman calmly described in detail how every person he killed represented a value 鈥減oint鈥 for him. Said the defendant: 鈥淚 only count fatalities. The dead can鈥檛 be repaired, or come back to be normal again.鈥
Reid: 鈥淲hat about the wounded?
Defendant: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e like collateral damage I guess.鈥
8. JURORS RELEASED
At about the middle of the trial, there was an epidemic of dismissed jurors. One was excused because she was talking to her husband about the trial on speakerphone during a break. Two who overheard were dismissed as well. Another had to step down because a relative was a victim of a random violent crime in downtown Denver. And yet one more was let go because she knew one of the witnesses, whose boys attended the school where she works. Other jurors who were acquaintances of other witnesses or looked like they were sleeping but weren鈥檛, got to stay. Out of an original 24, there are 19 left, of which seven are alternates. There are 14 women and 9 men. We will not know who are the real jurors until deliberations start.
9. BATTLE OF THE PSYCHIATRISTS
Two court-appointed psychiatrists deemed Holmes was mentally ill but legally sane the moment he started shooting, which, if the jury agrees, would ensure a guilty verdict; however, two defense psychiatrists said just the opposite 鈥 that he experienced a psychotic episode that night and could not distinguish right from wrong. All four psychiatric experts did agree that, whether he is sane or insane, if not for his mental illness, the shootings would not have happened.
For weeks, the jury listened to discussion about schizophrenia, delusions, hallucinations, schizotypal personality disorder, medications and malingering. Of note were two and a half days of testimony from the defense鈥檚 star witness, neuropsychiatrist Raquel Gur. She said that after six meetings with the defendant, she determined that the turning point of his descent into psychosis happened when he returned to grad school after Christmas break six months before the shooting. 鈥淲hen the train is beginning to derail it鈥檚 a turmoil,鈥 Gur said. 鈥淪lowly, slowly almost like a tornado coming. It gains power.鈥
10. MANY MOMENTS WITH THE JUDGE
Judge Carlos Samour, 48, has won the hearts of everyone in the courtroom, except maybe the accused shooter鈥檚 defense team, whom he has admonished for interrupting and for failing to let go of a point after he has clearly ruled on it. During jury selection, Samour, who is from El Salvador, told the court, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e detecting an accent, it鈥檚 not me. It鈥檚 you.鈥
His focus appears to be the law first, and secondly, making sure his jury gets through the emotionally grueling trial with as little pain as possible whether it鈥檚 time out for a broken tooth, a bad back or a bathroom break.
When the defense objected to bloodied theater seats being shown to the court, he overruled: 鈥淭he defendant has a constitutional right to a fair trial. The defendant does not have a constitutional right to a sanitized trial.鈥