Screaming woman disrupts courtroom
麻豆影院 10 minutes into the prosecution鈥檚 closing statement in the mitigation phase of the theater shooting trial, an unidentified woman started climbing the seats in the gallery all the way from the back row toward Holmes鈥 parents and him. DA George Brauchler had just told the jury:
鈥淚s mental illness a shield to protect someone? To treat him differently?
At that, she climbed over at least 5 rows before sheriffs deputies got her and dragged her out of the courtroom screaming 鈥淒on鈥檛 kill him!!!! It鈥檚 not his fault! I have mental illness in my family!!!鈥
I was the only journalist to follow her into the hall and witnessed 7 sheriff鈥檚 deputies take her down. She screamed in the hallway 鈥淕et off my knee! I can鈥檛 breathe! It鈥檚 mental illness!!!鈥
As they took her to the ground, she continued to scream 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 kill him! They can鈥檛 kill him!!鈥
You can see the attorneys reacting to the outburst the moment it happened.
And then 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 you give him my pictures?鈥 (I suspect this is in reference to her sending James Holmes pictures of her. The defendant has groupies). The deputies escorted her down the elevator across the way to a holding cell in the Arapaho County jail. One followed the group with her purse, sunglasses and a Starbucks Frapuccino drink.
The court administrator does not now where this woman lives, but said that she has been in the courtroom on and off all week long. Judge Carlos Samour commented that the woman had been told the rules of the courtroom by the sheriffs deputies. She may be called for a hearing on contempt of court.
Meanwhile, the jury is deliberating whether the mitigating circumstances, ie: the defendant鈥檚 mental illness, outweighs what the defendant did on July 20, 2012. If they don鈥檛 reach a verdict by the end of the day, they will be back on Monday to deliberate more.