James Holmes sentenced to life in prison in the Aurora theater shooting
Source: Denver Post
CENTENNIAL James Holmes will spend the rest of his life in a prison cell instead of dying in an execution chamber, jurors in the Aurora movie theater shooting trial decided Friday.
After deliberating for less than seven hours over two days, the jury of nine women and three men failed to unanimously agree that death is the appropriate punishment. The disagreement means Judge Carlos Samour Jr. will sentence Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of 12 people at the Century Aurora 16 theater three years ago.
The last time a Colorado jury returned a death sentence was more than six years ago.
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/theater-shooting-trial/ci_28601756/aurora-theater-shooting-jurors-begin-watching-gory-video
dangerous dan
(15 posts)LWP in Pueblo is probably the best thing for Holmes..
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)That's the state hospital were he would go if found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Moe likely Cañon City, Florence or Sterling.
dangerous dan
(15 posts)Grapevine says San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo - It's Level 5 facility in the State Hospital.
http://www.doc.state.co.us/facility/sccf-san-carlos-correctional-facility
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)Lets see what Samour thinks.
TBF
(32,090 posts)in the press. I only favor the death penalty in very extreme cases (Timothy McVeigh type). This looks like the right setting for Holmes.
The Second Stone
(2,900 posts)this must have been a very difficult case to sit on.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,699 posts)MicaelS
(8,747 posts)This was the proper decision in this case.
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)He's clearly mentally ill, I hope he gets help in prison.
derby378
(30,252 posts)dangerous dan
(15 posts)tweeted (and I'm paraphrasing) that "they were disappointed at the prosecutor. The defense attorney made a plea offer of LWP, and the DA turned it down"
The Arapahoe County DA was doing it for political ambition - fortunately the Republican can't get any ambition going.
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)He can't believe it after all the other verdicts.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)He didn't fit the legal definition of innocence due to insanity, but executing this man would be an aberration of justice.
The jury did the right thing. Juries often do.
I hope they will be able to recover from what must have been a harrowing experience.
gvstn
(2,805 posts)The jury did the right thing. I hope he gets the medical help he clearly needs. Killing him would not have been the right thing to do.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Too bad the gun and ammo merchants got off.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)State executions make killing acceptable.
HFRN
(1,469 posts)stick in the needle - sleepy time
instead, he will spend perhaps the next 60 years waking up to the same old same old
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)Lucky Luciano
(11,258 posts)So they do a lot of hard time __and then__ they get the needle.
Coventina
(27,172 posts)curlyred
(1,879 posts)With a bloodthirsty prosecutor and a frenzied Denver media, I am surprised. But relieved: anyone committing a mass murder of strangers like this is obviously insane. As a society we should not kill those who are less than whole.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)Most mass murderers do the mass murder (crimes like this guy "going postal" because of a combination of loss, frustration, and isolation. They are not "crazy". Some, though, do have larger mental health issues. But most know just what they are doing and know it is wrong, immoral, horrible, and illegal. They do it because they are out to "punish". This guy's behavior was entirely pre-planned. Very meticulous planning, including the careful booby trapping of his apartment. No one entirely out of reality plans like that. Not saying he doesn't have mental health problems, but he should never see the light of day again. The man PLANNED to walk into a movie theater, dressed and well armed for this, and senselessly murdered many innocent people. Again, is was THOROUGHLY PLANNED. He was frustrated, angry, isolated, a loner, and wanted to "punish" society, which is the motive of many of these kinds of murderers. And then think of Lee Harvey Oswald and his type of crime. Yes, he had some mental health issues. But he meticulously planned his crime because he wanted to "punish" America. Think of OJ Simpson. He did his murders because he was obsessed with his ex wife, wanted to control her, and wanted to "punish" her for "humiliating" him. He was ANGRY. With most serial killers, they are very planned in how they operate, meticulous, know just what they are doing, and they do it because they ENJOY it. Often it is connected to a wild desire for power, control, and sexual domination, all intertwined. They love the hunt. Ted Bundy murdered somewhere around 30 women. Was he crazy? He most likely had certain disturbances, but he knew just what he was doing and enjoyed it. And when they fried him, GOOD.
postatomic
(1,771 posts)Just curious.
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)from what I can understand you are totally wrong.
Where have you read that he wanted to "punish" anyone. He himself said that he wanted to increase his "self worth". A totally non-understandable reason coming from a delusional person.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)He's Schizophrenic. What does L w/o P accomplish in his case, other than vengeance?
Does it deter other Schizophrenics from acquiring semi-automatic weapons and committing similar atrocities? They are DELUSIONAL; punishment won't enter into their mental calculus.
I'd rather he'd been killed at the scene.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)It took tremendous aforethought and planning. Not to say he isn't nuts, but he's a smart and well-planned nut.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)Tell it to the victims and their families.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)Are they making rational decisions? I had always thought they were delusional and mentally ill.
I'll be glad to tell the victims and their families that the mentally ill don't deserve life in prison without possibility of parole. Give them the possibility of parole in 40, 50 years.
Even that asshole Brevik only got 21 years (albeit with the ability to extend his incarceration as long as deemed necessary).
christx30
(6,241 posts)what would you suggest? Let him go? Put him in a hospital?
He's too crazy to really do anything with. There is nothing worthwhile there at that.
Just put him somewhere where he can't hurt anyone. Keep him there until he dies. Don't give him any access to outside communication. Don't let him inspire anyone. When he does die, put a 20 second bit on the late news. Don't show him as a strong young man, just as what 10 or 20 years in a supermax can do to you.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)don't let him out for decades. maybe when he's 80.
christx30
(6,241 posts)as victims remain dead. His insanity didn't help his victims. It shouldn't help him.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest Gods
When mercy seasons justice.
What you want is Vengeance. That should not be the goal of Justice.
TheCowsCameHome
(40,168 posts)El Supremo
(20,365 posts)Not Colorado.
postatomic
(1,771 posts)Before the Trials began. The DA refused. The Defense said he'd plead guilty for Life in Prison. Could have saved the County a ton of money and the jurors a ton of emotional testimony had the ego of the DA had not been in play here.
underpants
(182,877 posts)Hoppy
(3,595 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)I'm opposed to the DP and glad he got life without parole. Hopefully he gets some help in prison.
maxsolomon
(33,400 posts)Their mission is rehabilitation and punishment, not treatment.
He would get "help" in a mental institution, like Chapman and Hinkley do.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Given the severity of Holmes crimes he should never be released from prison. That doesn't preclude him from getting some help.
Holmes had the chance to plead insanity and failed. Chapman attempted to and changed his mind at the last minute. Hinckley was able to prove insanity. The three situations were different.
Aristus
(66,462 posts)I don't believe this guy is insane. Except in the over-arching sense that anyone who murders another human being is insane.
What I mean is: I refuse to believe that he isn't responsible for his actions. As has been pointed out above, he planned this very meticulously. The complicated booby-traps he set in his apartment are a sharp declaration that he knew what he was about to do was wrong.
Several people have said they hope he gets mental health help in prison, and I can understand that hope. I just don't know what good it would do. He's never getting out. He will never heal into the kind of person society needs him to be.
He wasted his life. And he was selfish enough to waste twelve others first.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)I'm surprised but pleased by the outcome.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)BigDemVoter
(4,157 posts)And life in a hospital for the criminally insane would have been more appropriate.