Jurors in the Aurora shooting trial found on Thursday that the defendant’s actions included “aggravating factors” – the first step of three required to sentence James Holmes to death.
Twelve people died and 70 were injured in the July 2012 shooting, which took place at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises. Earlier this month, Holmes was convicted on 165 counts, including 24 for first-degree murder.
In Colorado, jurors are required to consider death sentence in three phases. In the first, prosecutors attempt to prove the crimes being considered had at least one “aggravating factor”.
In Holmes’s case, prosecutors attempted to prove five aggravating factors for most of the counts of first-degree murder against him, and jurors found at least one aggravating factor in each of the 24 counts.
One aggravating factor was the murder of a child younger than 12. Another proved by prosecutors was that Holmes ambushed his victims by “lying in wait”; he also created a grave risk to another person during the commission of a crime.
The jury found 4 of 5 aggravating factors on all 24 first degree murder counts. We move to phase 2 at 1:50 pm #theatershooting
— Rob McCallum (@rwmccallum) July 23, 2015
The jury’s verdicts, which were read by Judge Carlos Samour Jr, brought the case to the next phase: consideration of capital punishment. Had the jury not found aggravating factors, Holmes would have been sentenced to life in prison.
In the second phase, jurors will consider factors that could mitigate the aggravating factors. If a third phase is needed, jurors will decide whether to sentence Holmes to life without parole, or death.
If Holmes is sentenced to death, he will be one of four people on Colorado’s death row. The state has executed one person since 1977. Nineteen states in the US do not use capital punishment.
