Thursday, August 27, 2015

JAMES HOLMES GETS 12 LIFE SENTENCES IN AURORA SHOOTINGS

Original Story: nytimes.com

DENVER — In an emotional end to the court drama that has preoccupied Colorado, Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. on Wednesday issued 12 life sentences in prison to James E. Holmes, who fatally shot 12 people in a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora three years ago and wounded 70 others. The judge also imposed 3,318 years in prison on Mr. Holmes for his nonlethal crimes, including attempted murder. A Denver criminal lawyer is reviewing the details of this case.

“Get the defendant out of my courtroom,” Judge Samour said from the bench before Mr. Holmes, wearing a red prison suit, walked out of Courtroom 201 for the last time.

This month, a jury had elected to sentence Mr. Holmes to life in prison rather than the death penalty, which prosecutors had sought. On Wednesday, it was up to the judge to decide the penalty for Mr. Holmes’s nonlethal crimes. Later, the Colorado Corrections Department will evaluate him and decide which prison is most fitting.

Before reading the sentence, Judge Samour spent more than an hour delivering an impassioned speech to the crowded gallery, defending the justice system to victims’ families and others who had said that they felt Mr. Holmes had prevailed because his life had been spared.

“The defendant will never be a free man again — ever,” Judge Samour said. “He will be behind bars in a locked facility every day for the rest of this life.”

At times, Judge Samour appeared to choke back tears. Near the end of his address, he called the case “a display in contrast.”

“Whereas the defendant had a long-lasting hatred of mankind,” he said, “the victims who have come in here and addressed the court have shown all that is good about humanity.”

In July, a jury found Mr. Holmes guilty, rejecting his lawyers’ claim that he was legally insane when he committed the crimes. In subsequent deliberations, at least one juror said she could not impose the death penalty on Mr. Holmes; because the decision was not unanimous, he was given the life sentences.

This week, dozens of victims rose to testify on how Mr. Holmes’s crimes had affected their lives. Arlene Holmes, his mother, also spoke, crying as she delivered an apology to the victims and their families. She said that she knew her son felt remorse, but that his medications and mental illness made it difficult for him to convey.

Mr. Holmes’s lawyers said they would let the verdict stand and would not file appeals.

In the prelude to issuing his sentence, Judge Samour mentioned a woman who had testified that she wanted Mr. Holmes to feel the same pain she did. “I completely understand why she feels that way,” he said. “But we can’t do that. Why? We’re a civilized society. If we subscribe to the ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ philosophy, we would be no different than the criminal.” A Canadian County criminal lawyer is following this story closely.

Judge Samour took issue with those who had called the trial a waste of time, citing some of the people whose testimony had brought humanity to the dead: the mothers of Alexander Teves, Jessica Ghawi, A. J. Boik, and Jesse Childress; a daughter of Gordon Cowden; and the ex-husband of Rebecca Wingo, who told the jury that “she was fearless and wild, yet cultured and intelligent.”

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