Holmes’ mother gives emotional testimony

Associated Press

CENTENNIAL, Colo.

James Holmes’ mother insisted Wednesday she would “have been crawling on all fours” to reach him had she known he was talking about killing people weeks before he ambushed a crowded Colorado movie theater.

Arlene Holmes said her son’s campus psychiatrist never told her James Holmes had homicidal thoughts when she called in June 2012 and revealed he was quitting therapy and dropping out of school.

“We wouldn’t be sitting here if she had told me that!” Holmes’ mother said, her sobs rising to anger. “I would have been crawling on all fours to get to him. She never said he was thinking of killing people. She didn’t tell me. She didn’t tell me. She didn’t tell me!”

“He was not a violent person. At least not until the event,” Holmes’ father, Robert Holmes, said earlier Wednesday in the sentencing phase of James Holmes’ trial.

“The event” is a phrase Robert Holmes used several times to refer to his son’s attack on the audience inside a darkened Colorado movie theater July 20, 2012, which killed 12 people, injured 70 others and makes James Holmes eligible for the death penalty.

Arlene Holmes was the defense’s last witness in its portion of the sentencing phase. Others who testified included family friends, teachers and former neighbors who said the James Holmes they knew was shy, mild-mannered and polite – not the kind of young man who would gun down innocent strangers.

Closing arguments were scheduled for today.

James Holmes on Wednesday declined his last opportunity to speak to the jury.