Theater shooting trial day 53: Start of the penalty process

Day 53 in the Aurora movie theater shooting trial – People vs. James Eagan Holmes. Today, the penalty phase of the case begins. The jury found Holmes to be legally sane and therefore guilty when he went into the midnight premiere of the Dark Knight Rises in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater and opened fire on the audience, killing 12 and wounding 70.

3rd & 7 37yd

The governor has to sign the death warrant and he won't do it. Even if the courts decide he should be sentenced to death.

by JG 7/22/2015 5:46:38 PM
@blue - it will be difficult for the jury to get through stage 3 and be unanimous on the death penalty - IMO

by mandi 7/22/2015 5:51:30 PM
but hickenlooper will not always be gov. I know I will never vote for him again.

by happy 7/22/2015 5:51:43 PM
If I was a juror I would go for LWOP in phase one and be done with it.

by Humble Pride 7/22/2015 5:51:53 PM
Uh hum....12 jurors deliberating.

by Kristle 7/22/2015 5:51:55 PM
I think that AC should do aggravating phase. The jury sure seemed to respond to him. Why deviate from that dynamic? ...Any thoughts/facts from our regulars or moderator?

by fascinated 7/22/2015 5:51:57 PM
JG, by the time they get there, they may have a different governor. Even GB, perhaps.

by Tammy Garrison 7/22/2015 5:52:00 PM
@Tammy - not sure what you are referring too. I'm not sure there is anyone here who doesn't take this serious. On so many levels!

by kdsmith 7/22/2015 5:52:15 PM
so we could have put them in deliberations and hammered the 53 objections while they were deliberating. more wasted man hours.

by NT8 7/22/2015 5:52:19 PM
Hickenlooper won't do it, but he will be long gone by the time the signature is needed..

by AP 7/22/2015 5:52:21 PM
I heard through the grapevine Brauchler, I guess, is thinking of running for Governor...

by Kels 7/22/2015 5:52:23 PM
Got it, thanks to those who responded1

by Molly 7/22/2015 5:52:27 PM
@JG it will be years before a Governor has to worry about signing or not signing a death warrant... if DP comes down from the jury it will be 17-20 years before that part happens due to appeals!!

by LG 7/22/2015 5:52:29 PM
Maybe AC will be governor by then, ; ) or at least we'll have someone new in office who is open to considering the heinous nature of this pre-planned mass murder.

by fascinated 7/22/2015 5:52:32 PM
Just curious, when does Colorado's present governor's term end?

by bonz 7/22/2015 5:52:34 PM
To me the Judge sounds a bit impatient and hostile.

by Alternative Name 7/22/2015 5:52:36 PM
Agent Bill, he was ambivalent to either being killed or caught... or so he says in the notebook and to Dr. Reid.

by Tammy Garrison 7/22/2015 5:52:39 PM
Sometimes when I click on the heart it triples in numbers. Does it refresh after a click? Just wondering.

by Kristle 7/22/2015 5:52:42 PM
even though these jurors said they could/would vote for death -- some may waiver when it comes down to it

by mandi 7/22/2015 5:52:47 PM
I hear you, kdsmith. Absolutely!

by fascinated 7/22/2015 5:52:49 PM
@panda, re. Biblical retribution: It is true that the Old Testament demanded an eye for an eye, yet Jesus said, "I say, do not ask an eye for an eye, but rather if a man takes your cloak offer him also your shirt." He also said, "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." We are rendering by this, or any other trial, by obeying the laws of "Caesar" (our government). We have, none of us, achieved the true humility and love of Christ or any other spiritual figure, and this human-ness is acknowledge by God in the form of Jesus giving his life for ours. We are progressing in our understanding of each other and what should be morally right (thereby proving our human-ness), but until those that commit crimes can lift themselves to a level of godliness that does not allow for hurt against others, we must punish

by DocJ 7/22/2015 5:52:56 PM
what surprises me is they totally ignored that cop that shared his name was the one who handed the notebook to the media to clear his name and all the hookers wanting to out him

by someguy 7/22/2015 5:53:00 PM
Geeze, there's 18 of these instructions. Looks like lunch is next.

by Lori J 7/22/2015 5:53:02 PM
@Happy- probably not since he's on his last term anyway.

by CSP 7/22/2015 5:53:05 PM
Hickenlooper did make a statement last Thursday evening that he would follow whatever the jury said was appropriate punishment if it gets to his desk. I feel that we should give him the chance to prove it while he is in office. This, however, will outlive his term so I don't see the point in debating it.

by DocJ 7/22/2015 5:59:22 PM
@Kels -- I believe that's why we're here, at trial. They should have accepted his plea a long time ago. If this ends up with life w/o parole, we get the same result but had to go through this.

by Lynn 7/22/2015 5:59:29 PM
Well, kd, you addressed a "Tammy". Maybe you meant Tammy C. However, the diarrhea comment you made I agree with others was not the best choice for someone taking this seriously. Just my opinion.

by Tammy Garrison 7/22/2015 5:59:38 PM
I couldn't sentence any human being to death. I believe that's gods job, not ours. I don't think most people could if it came down to it. Even the people in here ranting and raving KILL! KILL! KILL!

by Me 7/22/2015 5:59:52 PM
@blue- regarding the comment on how he lost his weight

by TLR 7/22/2015 5:59:55 PM
@oxk--Time to back off from your bong, dude.

by flip 7/22/2015 5:59:58 PM
@Alternative Name Not hearing it, perhaps before the jury came in that he should his impatience with both DT & PT but he is going over a LOT of instrutions

by Just Thinkin 7/22/2015 6:00:09 PM
Sophia. Thanks. Not simple because the human mind is in flux, like all living forms. Without doubt, the lights often go out, under stress or pressure, without turning them off. Sometimes they just come back on, sometimes they need to be fixed, if possible. The value exchange proposition is perhaps the most primordial of human concept for survival. Too bad, that deeply buried gene or inherent quality that is latent in this time, although not everywhere, is apparent elsewhere in some societies. Too bad, because medical education is divided, like all kinds of knowledge from the core of our existence. Would sound witchy, esp. to those who enjoy killing in other kinds of ways. Hence, why eye for eye is intended only to hold to blindness of the self and the one they blinded.

by oxk 7/22/2015 6:00:23 PM
@DocJ - Those thoughts are the difference between the old testament and the new testament. However, Jesus also taught that we should obey mans laws "unless" they contradict God's laws.

by kdsmith 7/22/2015 6:00:30 PM
@Kristle same thing happens when I do it, I think that's the case, that it does refresh or something

by Della (Me) 7/22/2015 6:00:33 PM
So there were 24 jurors then 5 excused so 19 jurors and 12 were announced as the deliberating jurors and 7 are alternates. Think that's right....??

by Kristle 7/22/2015 6:00:39 PM
Nathan Dunlap shot / killed 4 and we sentenced him to death in this same county. Killing 12 and wounding 58, is orders of magnitude worse. These jurors came from the same community that sentenced Nathan.

Yes, 20+ years later Dunlap is still on death row, because our governor is in my opinion spineless to follow the will of the court, the people, and the law. When we get a republican governor, the sentence will be carried out very quickly... or a democrat the respects and understands his/her obligations to the people.

by Mark 7/22/2015 6:00:49 PM
@Kristie: when you click on the heart you will refresh all those whom have also clicked on it and it will appear with a true count of all that have clicked on it.

by Cindy L 7/22/2015 6:00:54 PM
@Humble Pride. What is the point of the jury sentencing him to LWOP, when in fact this is a DEATH PENALTY case.

by Nadine 7/22/2015 6:00:59 PM
It's going to be it will be YEARS before a Governor of Colorado has to worry about signing or not signing a death warrant... if DP comes down from the jury it will be 17-20 YEARS before that part happens due to appeals!! Dunlap: Date of murder: December 14, 1993....Sentenced to death on May 17, 1996....Hickenlooper granting an indefinite reprieve 2014.... 18 Years after DP

by LG 7/22/2015 6:01:07 PM
For more on Justin Grizzle, go to: www.gofundme.com Everyone should read this cops story.

by happy 7/22/2015 6:01:10 PM
So wait, if Brauchler becomes governor wouldn't it be a conflict of interest to push his execution through? I mean what if he had a real big vendetta for JH? (Not saying that he does, and I'm not being a JH sympathizer or anything)...

by Della (Me) 7/22/2015 6:01:16 PM
Everyone in the US is allowed due process.

by Kristle 7/22/2015 6:01:40 PM
it may be a death penalty case but that's only because that's what the PT is pursuing. @nadine.
the jury doesn't have to agree.. that's what all of these instructions theyve been battling about for the last two days are saying!!!

by blue 7/22/2015 6:07:08 PM
@Della... if JH gets DP... GB can't just demand he's death... that's not how our system in America works..

by LG 7/22/2015 6:07:14 PM
Flip-the "word salad" that was sent your way/at your username doesn't resonate in any way. I completely agree with your perspective -we're on the same page re: hired guns, credibility, court appointed forensic psychs (& WHY they were court appointed)... all of it. You can't respond to an irrational/nonsensical statement. I wouldn't even try... (re: "...way different kinds of intelligences of ways of being in the living world...".etc.). WT...?

by fascinated 7/22/2015 6:07:25 PM