July 14--When James E. Holmes entered a suburban Denver movie theater he had lost touch with reality, was obviously psychotic and was not responsible for opening fire in a deadly mass shooting, his attorney said Tuesday in the defense's closing argument.
Daniel King said Holmes had been mentally ill even before the 2012 attack on the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., and urged the jurors to look beyond how the gunman planned his attack. The prosecution had earlier argued that the deliberate nature of the planning and execution of the attack showed that Holmes was not mentally ill.
"There isn't a lot of logic in what Mr. Holmes did," King said. "That's because he is mentally ill.... It's not logical. It defies the logical process. It's psychotic."
King and Arapahoe Dist. Atty. George Brauchler squared off in their final arguments in the death penalty case that hinges on the mental state of Holmes and whether he could tell right from wrong when he opened fire on the audience at the midnight showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, 2012. Twelve people were killed in the attack and 70 wounded.
"That guy was sane beyond a reasonable doubt, and he needs to be held accountable for what he did," Brauchler told the jurors in his closing argument. Jurors were scheduled to begin deliberations on Wednesday.
When the audience of more than 400 people entered the theater, "they came in hoping to see the story of a hero dressed in black, someone who would fight insurmountable odds for justice," Brauchler said. "Instead, a different figure appeared by the screen.... He came there with one thing in his heart and his mind, and that was mass murder.
"When he goes into that theater he intends to kill everybody he can," Brauchler told the jurors. "He creates a kill box."
In his presentation, Brauchler emphasized how Holmes planned the attack to compensate for failures in his graduate school studies and his romantic life. The prosecutor also mentioned hours of video testimony with a psychiatrist during which Holmes describes taking aim at fleeing movie patrons to increase the image of his self-worth.
"He knows what society thinks about what his conduct will be," Brauchler said, making one of the key points the prosecution hopes will persuade jurors to reject the defense contention that Holmes was overcome by psychosis and could not distinguish right from wrong.
The questions of sanity and what Holmes did or did not know that night will be the key issues for jurors.
Closing arguments were slightly delayed Tuesday as the defense questioned some of the wording on slides the prosecution was going to use in its presentation.
Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ordered Brauchler to change or delete some of the material, saying the wording misstated the evidence or made overbroad allegations.
Holmes, now 27, is charged with 24 counts of murder and 140 counts of attempted murder -- two counts for each person killed and two for each person injured. He is also facing a weapons charge.
Holmes has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning that he acknowledges he was the gunman but believes he wasn't legally responsible because he couldn't tell right from wrong.
If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital.
If he is convicted, jurors will then decide the penalty: life in prison without parole or execution.
It took nearly three months to choose the jury after 9,000 summonses were sent. The trial began with opening statements April 27.
Jurors heard from more than 250 witnesses, viewed more than 24 hours of video and saw more than 1,500 photos, including images of the victims. They also examined scores of pieces of evidence, including Holmes' guns and ammunition. Holmes didn't testify.
The crucial evidence is expected to be the testimony from psychiatrists. All agree that Holmes was mentally ill, but two court-appointed psychiatrists testified Holmes was legally sane.
Two defense psychiatrists told jurors he was legally insane.
UPDATES
3:42 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout with details from the defense's closing argument.
1:37 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout with details of the first hour of the closing argument by the prosecution.
This story was first published at 9:43 a.m.
