James Holmes - Aurora, CO "Theater Shooter"
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James Holmes faces 166 counts, including murder and attempted murder charges in a mass shooting incident on July 20, 2012 inside an Aurora, CO movie theater. He set off tear gas canisters and fired into the crowd repeatedly with multiple weapons. He was apprehended without resistance near his car outside the theater.
Prosecutors say the 24-year-old neuroscience graduate student told a classmate he wanted to kill people. He also threatened his psychiatrist, and began massing an arsenal of weapons, including thousands of bullets and enough chemicals to rig his apartment into a potentially deadly booby trap.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His trial began April 27, 2015.
The Case
The Victims (killed)
Who is James Holmes?
Born: December 13, 1987 in San Diego, Ca.
Parents: His mother, Arlene, has been licensed as a registered nurse for more than 30 years. His father, Robert, is a mathematician who develops statistical models for financial services, specifically looking at fraud.
High School: Holmes graduated in 2006 from Westview High School in San Diego. One of Holmes' high school classmates, Breanna Hath, said he had a small group of friends who played video games and were “a little nerdy. He was really shy, really quiet, but really nice and sweet.”
Post-High School Internship: During the summer of 2006 he was an intern at a prestigious computer laboratory at the Salk Institute at UC San Diego. In this video, Holmes can be seen making a presentation on "temporal illusion," which he defines as "an illusion that allows you to change the past" and that which "takes place inside the mind, as opposed to the external world."
College: Holmes went on from high school to graduate with honors from the University of California, Riverside, with a degree in neuroscience in 2010. A college classmate remembered him as an "impressive" student.
Graduate School: Holmes moved out of state and enrolled in a neurosciences graduate program at the University of Colorado Denver in 2011. But something changed in the recent weeks leading up to the killings. In early June 2012 he failed an oral exam and was in the process of withdrawing from the school.
The Jury
The jury for the Holmes trial is comprised of 19 women and 5 men. That means there are enough for a standard 12-member jury panel with 12 alternates, should replacement of any member be necessary. The jurors are listed by seat number, from 1 to 24. Click on juror image to read entire comments on each juror.
A white woman whose daughter is in the Arm and son is in the Marines. Works as a plumber. Said she has been diagnosed with ADHD. "I know what it's like to be a little bit different from other people," she said during individual questioning. She doesn't watch the news.
White woman in her 40s or 50s who works as a lawyer, and is a caregiver for her elderly parents. Of the death penalty, she said: "I think it has to be the exception to the rule, rather than the rule."
White woman in her 20s who is a volunteer victims' advocate in Aurora.
Middle aged white woman. Teaches classes on dental assisting. Daughter attended premiere of the Batman movie on the same night as the shooting but at a different theater. Defense tried to get her removed from the pool after individual questioning.
Middle-age white woman whose ex-husband works as a police officer. Her niece was in the cafeteria at Columbine High School the day of the shooting.
Middle-age white woman who says her son is a drug addict, and who has struggled with depression in the past. On her juror questionnaire, she wrote, "I used to believe in eye-for-an-eye, but now, knowing more about mental illness, I would have to consider everything involved."
Caucasian woman Approx. age: 30s-40s DU graduate student Doesn't watch the news
White woman in her 20s or 30s who is concerned about graphic images. Says it would trouble her if Holmes would be released after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.Teared up during individual questioning when asked whether she could deliver a death sentence.
White woman in her 20s or 30s who is a mother of three. Doesn't watch the news, and is ok with the death penalty. Was asked during group questioning whether she would infer anything about James Holmes' mental state from his hair style in court. "It's probably just a haircut," she said.
Said during group questioning that she didn't have many concerns about serving on the jury. "My main concern was just my privacy," she said.
White woman and physicist with degrees in psychology and mathematics. Competitive shooter. Son-in-law is a corrections officer and an Iraq war veteran who suffers from PTSD. "I think mental illness is a fact of life," she said. "A lot of us have been touched by it."
Caucasian man Approx. age: 30s Says he'll consider each charge Doesn't watch TV
White woman in her 50s who worked as a paramedic transporting mentally ill patients. Expressed reservations about how the outcome of the case will be perceived by the public. "Of course, it's going to be in the back of my mind," she said. "But it's going to have to stay in the back."
Middle-age white man in his 50s. Was living in California at the time of the shooting. He didn't know how many people were killed and wounded in the shooting until he came to court.
Caucasian male Approx. age: 30s Bed, Bath & Beyond store manager
Middle aged white woman who serves in the military. Has three kids, and her husband is deployed. Asked whether she wanted to serve on the jury, she said, "I don't want to be part of it, to be honest."
White man in his 20s or 30s who was in Columbine High School during the shooting. He says the perpetrators were his good friends until eighth grade, and that he went to prom with one of the victims. "I'm the world's worst liar," he said during group questioning.
Older white woman. Retired after a 22-year career in the Army as an intensive care nurse. Asked whether she could handle weighing the numerous charges in the case, she replied, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
White woman in her 20s or 30s. Works in the information technology department at the Aurora Mental Health Center. Previously served as a law enforcement agent in the Air Force and called herself "very strongly in the middle."
A middle-age Latina who is a school attendance clerk. She said two of her students were at the theater the night of the shooting.
Mddle-age woman in her 30s or 40s. She says mental illness isn't an excuse for committing a terrible crime. Said she found the prospect of serving on the jury scary. "But it's part of our responsibility and our legal system."
White woman. Works as a teacher of special-education children. Said she used to be more liberal and against the death penalty but has become more open to it. "Just growing up," she said.
A middle-age white woman who wants to hear from Holmes' parents. Said she needed to hear all the evidence in the case before she could make a decision. "I don't think you actually know what you'd really do until you hear everything."
Older white man who works at a gas station. Has a mentally ill daughter. His employer won't pay him while he's serving, but he said he could scrape by on $50 a day.
Note: 58 others were injured in the attack and thankfully survived.
Karen PearsonKaren Pearson is the Chief Deputy District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s office. She has handled a wide range of cases, including homicides, child abuse resulting in death, sex assaults on children and aggravated robberies. Pearson volunteers on the Denver Bar Association's Peer Professionalism Assistance panel that advises lawyers on strategies for dealing with "rude and unprofessional" lawyers. |
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DA George BrauchlerTook office in January 2013, after the shooting. He is also a Lt. Col. in the US Army Reserve's Regional Defense Counsel and an Adjunct Professor at DU's Sturm College of Law since 2002. He has a BS and JD from the University of Colorado. According to his DU biography, "he has 18 years of experience in the courtroom and has taken over 140 trials to verdict in state, federal, and military courts, the vast majority of which have been as a Prosecutor on behalf of Colorado and the U.S. |
Jacob EdsonAt the start of this year, he became a Chief Deputy District Attorney in the 18th Judicial District. Previously, he was a senior deputy DA and a deputy DA, first joining the office in 2002. He also taught as adjunct faculty at Arapahoe Community College. He has a Masters of Criminal Justice from the CU-Denver, a law degree from DU, an MBA from CSU and a BS in psychology from CSU. |
Lisa Teesch-MaguireListed on LinkedIn as a Staff Attorney at the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (A nonprofit organization) since 2011, she has past experience as an ADA in the 18th Judicial District and with a private firm. She is a Graduate of both CU-Boulder's Leeds School of Business and School of Law. |
Richard OrmanSenior Deputy District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District since 2001. Previously, he worked for the Garfield County District Attorney’s office. He is an environmental science graduate of CU-Boulder and earned a JD at Georgetown. He grew up in Aspen, and graduated from Aspen High School. |
Daniel KingA graduate of Boston College and the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, King has been with the Public Defender's Office since 1995. His official title is the Chief Trial Deputy at Colorado State Public Defender. King has previous experience in death penalty cases, having represented Sir Mario Owens in that double murder trial. |
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Tamara BradyBrady is on the faculty of the National College of Capital Voir Dire. She is a Chief Deputy Public Defender, Brady has experience with death penalty cases and mental illness cases. She represented Jose Luis Rubi-Nava in his trial for dragging his girlfriend to death behind a car. The defense originally sought to have Rubi-Nava declared mentally disabled, but they took a plea deal when the judge ruled against them. |
Katherine SpenglerSpengler graduated from CU Law in 2002. She is adjunct faculty at CU Law teaching trial advocacy and has also lectured about opening statements, but is not teaching this semester. In 2013, she defended Austin Sigg, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and dismemberment of Jessica Ridgeway. |
The Players
The Prosecution
The Defense
The Judge
The man who abruptly was handed the reins of one of the most notorious criminal cases in Colorado history has been a prosecutor, an attorney with a huge private firm and an immigrant who stepped into his teenage years in a new country where he had to learn a new language.
Carlos A. Samour, Jr., has heard some notable and newsworthy cases in his six years on the bench in the 18th Judicial District in Arapahoe County. Samour is now overseeing the case against accused Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes.
Samour was appointed Monday to take over the Holmes case from William Sylvester, who reassigned himself moments after District Attorney George Brauchler announced he would seek the death penalty.
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