theater shooting Lawyers make final appeals to jurors in Colorado

Associated Press

CENTENNIAL, Colo.

James Holmes was legally sane when he entered a packed movie theater armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, intent on killing as many people as he could, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday in closing arguments at the gunman’s trial.

“That guy was sane beyond a reasonable doubt, and he needs to be held accountable for what he did,” District Attorney George Brauchler said.

But defense lawyer Daniel King countered that Holmes was controlled by his schizophrenia.

“The mental illness caused this to happen. Only the mental illness caused this, and nothing else,” King said.

Brauchler and King made their final appeals to jurors Tuesday before handing over the case. Deliberations are scheduled to begin this morning.

Holmes slipped into the packed theater July 20, 2012 – almost three years ago – and opened fire. Twelve people died and 70 were injured.

Defense attorneys are asking for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, which would send Holmes to the state mental hospital for an indefinite commitment. Prosecutors say Holmes should be convicted of murder and executed.

Brauchler again stressed the heavy toll on unsuspecting victims who had gone to see the midnight premiere of a Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

“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.”

Holmes, now 27, does not dispute that he was the lone gunman who attacked the theater but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers say schizophrenia so warped his mind he could not tell right from wrong, and that he was in the grip of a psychotic breakdown.