04-15-2015, 10:12 AM
OPENING STATEMENTS SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 27TH
![[Image: 1393506857000-James-Holmes.jpg]](http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/2d42e3d51377640b4c5a1c5238608d8404a47242/c=4-0-2000-1500&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/KSDK/KSDK/2014/02/27//1393506857000-James-Holmes.jpg)
A jury was seated yesterday in the death penalty trial of admitted Colorado theater shooter James Holmes after a selection process that experts say was among the largest and most complicated in U.S. history.
The 12 jurors and 12 alternates were chosen after remaining candidates were questioned as a large group Monday. About 9,000 prospective jurors initially were summoned in what experts called the nation's biggest-ever jury pool. They spent weeks filling out lengthy written questionnaires.
Hundreds were then asked to return for one-on-one questioning, in which defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge questioned them, sometimes for hours, about their views on the death penalty, mental illness and other aspects of the criminal justice system.
Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in the July 20, 2012, attack on a Denver-area movie theater.
His defense attorneys don't dispute that he pulled the trigger but say he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he slipped into the theater and opened fire while dressed from head to toe in combat gear.
Prosecutors insist Holmes was sane and will ask jurors to convict him and sentence him to death.
If the jury finds Holmes was legally insane at the time of the attack, he would be committed indefinitely to the state psychiatric hospital. If the jury convicts Holmes, the only other option other than a death sentence is life in prison.
More: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jury-seated-...es-holmes/
A jury was seated yesterday in the death penalty trial of admitted Colorado theater shooter James Holmes after a selection process that experts say was among the largest and most complicated in U.S. history.
The 12 jurors and 12 alternates were chosen after remaining candidates were questioned as a large group Monday. About 9,000 prospective jurors initially were summoned in what experts called the nation's biggest-ever jury pool. They spent weeks filling out lengthy written questionnaires.
Hundreds were then asked to return for one-on-one questioning, in which defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge questioned them, sometimes for hours, about their views on the death penalty, mental illness and other aspects of the criminal justice system.
Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in the July 20, 2012, attack on a Denver-area movie theater.
His defense attorneys don't dispute that he pulled the trigger but say he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he slipped into the theater and opened fire while dressed from head to toe in combat gear.
Prosecutors insist Holmes was sane and will ask jurors to convict him and sentence him to death.
If the jury finds Holmes was legally insane at the time of the attack, he would be committed indefinitely to the state psychiatric hospital. If the jury convicts Holmes, the only other option other than a death sentence is life in prison.
More: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jury-seated-...es-holmes/