Colorado theatre shooting: Jury to decide if James Holmes will face death penalty

Families of the 12 people James Holmes killed and the scores he injured in a packed movie theater were relieved that jurors only needed 12 hours to reject the idea that he was legally insane when he opened fire.

Now the trial enters a new phase as the jury decides whether Holmes should die for his crimes.

Starting next week, jurors will hear testimony about Holmes' mental illness and his childhood. Prosecutors may counter with even more heartbreaking accounts from victims, ranging from those Holmes maimed to the father of his youngest victim, a 6-year-old girl who died in the 2012 attack.

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There was a muted, heartbroken sense of relief Thursday afternoon following Holmes' conviction on 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges. Victims wept and comforted one another in the courtroom during the hour-long recitation of each verdict, holding hands and nodding their heads with satisfaction when their loved one's names were read.

"We're all really happy he's guilty, but we're all really sad to be here," said Katie Medley, whose husband, Caleb, uses a wheelchair after being shot in the head during the attack.

The verdict came after two and a half years of legal skirmishing between prosecutors and Holmes' public defenders and 11 months of grueling testimony. The upcoming sentencing phase could easily take another month.

"I'm glad we're at this point, but at the same time, we have a long way to go," said Marcus Weaver, who was injured in the attack and whose friend Rebecca Wingo was killed.

'A much more personal decision'

Experts say the sentencing phase could prove even more emotionally wrenching as survivors describe the impact of the shooting on their daily lives. It will be a harder decision for jurors, who will have fewer instructions to guide them, said defence attorney Karen Steinhauser, who is not involved in the Holmes case. That jurors swiftly rejected Holmes' insanity defense doesn't mean they'll come to a speedy conclusion about his punishment.

"They're going to have to decide, for someone who is mentally ill, if a death sentence is the right punishment," she said. "It ends up being a much more personal decision."

If just one juror disagrees with a death sentence, Holmes, 27, will be sent to prison for life.

For almost an hour Thursday, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. read charge after charge, reciting the name of the victim, the offense and the word "guilty." Dressed in a blue shirt and khakis, and flanked by his public defenders, Holmes stood impassively with his hands in his pockets the whole time.

Holmes' parents, Arlene and Robert, sat silently holding hands throughout the verdicts. After the final count was read, Arlene buried her face in Robert's shoulder.

The verdict came three years after Holmes, dressed head to toe in body armor, slipped through the emergency exit of the darkened suburban Denver theater and replaced the Hollywood violence of The Dark Knight Rises with real human carnage.

22 hours of videotaped interviews

The trial offered a rare glimpse into the mind of a mass shooter, as most are killed by police, kill themselves or plead guilty.

Holmes' lawyers argued that he suffers from schizophrenia and was in the grip of a psychotic breakdown so severe that he was unable to tell right from wrong — Colorado's standard for insanity. They said he was delusional even as he secretively acquired the three murder weapons and concealed his plans from friends and two worried psychiatrists.

The defence called a pair of psychiatrists, including a nationally known schizophrenia expert, who concluded Holmes was psychotic and legally insane.

But two state-appointed doctors found otherwise, testifying for prosecutors that no matter what Holmes' mental state was that night, he knew what he was doing was wrong.

Jurors watched nearly 22 hours of videotaped interviews in which Holmes, using short, reluctant answers, said he felt nothing as he fired, blasting techno music through his earphones to drown out his victims' screams.