Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Holmes found guilty in Colorado theater shootings

The Centennnial, Colo., jury deliberated 12 hours over two days to determine that Holmes, now 27, was guilty of 24 counts of murder and more than 100 other charges arising from the theater shooting, which disrupted the local debut of a Batman feature film.

The jury rejected defense arguments that Holmes was insane when he meticulously planned the shooting — even trying to figure out which of the mulitiplex theaters offered the maximum carnage — and when he opened fire with three guns on an unsuspecting audience, according to the Associated Press.

Holmes now faces the trial’s penalty phase, when the same jury will determine whether he will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without possibility of parole, the news service said.

“We’re very happy this animal, this monster, will never see the light of day,” said Sandy Ghawi, the mother of one of the slain victims, Jessica Ghawi.

“It feels good to have this weight off our backs,” Sandy Ghawl said.

Arapahoe County District Chief Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read all 165 guilty verdicts in around an hour, although the penalty phase of the trial, which begins Wednesday, is expected to last at least a month.

The first guilty verdict was for the death of Jonathan Blunk, a 26-year-old father of two who died trying to shield his girlfriend from Holmes’ bullets, and was met by sobs from a courtroom jammed with shooting survivors and families of the victims.

“As soon as you heard the first guilty, we knew all the dominoes were about to fall,” said Tom Sullivan, whose son Alex also was killed, the AP said.

Blunk’s girlfriend, Jansen Young, said she was relieved by the verdict.

“Justice is here,” she said.

The guilt phase of the trial heard from more than 200 witnesses, many of them survivors of the shooting, and lasted 11 weeks.

The jury also heard 22 hours of videotaped psychiatrist interviews with Holmes, who said he wanted to kill strangers to increase his self-worth and felt nothing as he mowed down defenseless theatergoers.

But Holmes also said he wore headphones blasting electronic music to drown out the screams of his victims, the AP said.

Those victims included two active-duty servicemen, a single mom, an aspiring broadcaster who previously survived a mall shooting in Toronto, and several — like Blunk — who died shielding others.

The other slain victims were Alexander Boik, Jesse Childress, Gordon Cowden, John Thomas Larimer, Matthew McQuinn, Alex Sullivan, Alexander Teves, Rebecca Ann Wingo, Medek, and 6-tear-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest.

Written By

You may also like:

Tech & Science

Under new legislation that passed the House of Representatives last week, TikTok could be banned in the United States.

Social Media

Wanna buy some ignorance? You’re in luck.

Life

Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest often suggest travel destinations based on your likes and viewing habits.

Business

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the carrier was reviewing recent incidents and would redouble safety initiatives as needed - Copyright AFP Logan CyrusUnited...