08-26-2015, 02:58 PM
SENTENCING
Today, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. formally sentenced James Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
![[Image: james-holmes.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1]](https://cbsdenver.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/james-holmes.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1)
^ Holmes was convicted of first-degree murder and 140 counts of attempted first degree murder last month, as well as an explosives charge.
Colorado prisons officials will determine where Holmes will be incarcerated after an evaluation that includes his mental health. Holmes, who has been diagnosed with varying forms of schizophrenia, could wind up in the corrections department's mental hospital, the 250-bed San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo. He also could be transferred to an out-of-state prison.
Holmes moved from California to Colorado in 2011 and entered a prestigious postgraduate neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver. But he dropped out after a year; by that time, he was well into planning the attack and stockpiling ammunition. He rigged his apartment to explode on the night of the attack, hoping to divert first responders from the Aurora theater. The homemade devices didn't go off.
In July, the jury rejected Holmes' insanity plea, finding he knew right from wrong. But it couldn't unanimously agree on the death penalty, meaning Holmes automatically was sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors subsequently said one juror refused to sentence Holmes to death, apparently swayed by defense arguments that he did not deserve execution because he does suffer mental illness.
To the end, Holmes' state-appointed attorneys blamed the massacre on his schizophrenia and psychotic delusions. They said Holmes had been obsessed with the idea of mass killing since childhood, and he pursued neuroscience in an effort to find out what was wrong with his brain.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-the...in-prison/
Today, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. formally sentenced James Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
^ Holmes was convicted of first-degree murder and 140 counts of attempted first degree murder last month, as well as an explosives charge.
Colorado prisons officials will determine where Holmes will be incarcerated after an evaluation that includes his mental health. Holmes, who has been diagnosed with varying forms of schizophrenia, could wind up in the corrections department's mental hospital, the 250-bed San Carlos Correctional Facility in Pueblo. He also could be transferred to an out-of-state prison.
Holmes moved from California to Colorado in 2011 and entered a prestigious postgraduate neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver. But he dropped out after a year; by that time, he was well into planning the attack and stockpiling ammunition. He rigged his apartment to explode on the night of the attack, hoping to divert first responders from the Aurora theater. The homemade devices didn't go off.
In July, the jury rejected Holmes' insanity plea, finding he knew right from wrong. But it couldn't unanimously agree on the death penalty, meaning Holmes automatically was sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors subsequently said one juror refused to sentence Holmes to death, apparently swayed by defense arguments that he did not deserve execution because he does suffer mental illness.
To the end, Holmes' state-appointed attorneys blamed the massacre on his schizophrenia and psychotic delusions. They said Holmes had been obsessed with the idea of mass killing since childhood, and he pursued neuroscience in an effort to find out what was wrong with his brain.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-the...in-prison/