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FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2015 partly sunny E91° F60° »18A B © the denver post B $1.50 price may vary outside metro denver 6

AURORA THEATER SHOOTING TRIAL

COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE: DENVERPOST.COM/THEATERTRIAL

TENNESSEE ATTACKS: GUNMANKILLS FOURMARINES »15A

INSIDESANITYSTILL A BIGQUESTIONJurors rejectedJamesHolmes’insanity plea, butlegal experts saythe questionwillplay a larger role inthe sentencingphase. »9A

The victims.Rememberingthose killed. »8-9A

What’s next.Jurors will be backin court onWednesday. »9A

GUILTY24 counts ofmurder • 140 counts of attemptedmurder

1 count of possession of an explosive device

1 sentence enhancement of crime of violence

By John Ingold and Jordan Steffen The Denver Post

centennial» James Holmes is guilty of murder forkilling 12 people in an Auroramovie theater threeyears ago, a jury decided Thursday, ending the legallimbo for one of theworst mass shootings in Ameri-can history.

In count after emphatic count, ju-rors rejected the defense’s argumentthat what happened at the CenturyAurora 16 theater on July 20, 2012, wasa tragic act of insanity. It was a delib-erate crime, jurors said.Holmes now faces possible execu-

tion as punishment.The jury of nine women and three

men foundHolmes guilty of 24 countsof first-degreemurder— two for eachvictim slain— aswell as 134 counts offirst-degree attempted murder, sixcounts of attempted second-degree

murder and one count of explosivespossession.In the wood-paneled courtroom be-

fore the verdict was read, tensionpulled the spectators taut. Parentswholost their children in the attack heldhands with clenched grips. Holmes’parents leaned stiffly against one an-other, a box of tissues resting on Rob-ert Holmes’ lap.Then, over a single, unrelenting

hour in Arapahoe County courtroom201, JudgeCarlos Samour Jr. called out

TRIAL»8A

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, center, puts his head in his hands as Judge Carlos Samour Jr., right, reads a verdict of guilty on thecount of murder in the first degree of 6-year-old VeronicaMoser-Sullivan, the youngest victim. Gunman JamesHolmes stands at left. Arapahoe County Court TV

“WEIGHTLIFTED”WITHVERDICTSByNoelle Phillips and John AguilarThe Denver Post

centennial» Sadness. Relief. Shudder.Those were the words used Thursday by

survivors of theAurora theater shooting af-ter a jury found the defendant guilty on 165counts.“I didn’t know how I was going to feel,”

said Jansen Young, whose boyfriend, Jona-thanBlunk,was killed. “Therewas aweightlifted that I didn’t even knowwas there thatI’ve been carrying for three years.”When Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read the

first verdict, “Guilty,” the survivors knewthe jury had carried out their wishes.“As soon as we heard the first ‘guilty,’ we

knew the dominoeswere going to fall,” saidTom Sullivan, whose son, Alex, was killed.

REACTION»9A

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12 KILLED, 70 WOUNDED IN THEATER SHOOTING

the word “guilty” 165 times — allbut one time attaching to the ver-dict the name of someone whoselifewas irrevocably alteredduringthe shooting.Count 1. Murder in the first de-

gree after deliberation — Jona-than Blunk.“We the jury,” Samour read

from the verdict form, “find thedefendant, James Eagan Holmes,guilty.”And in the audience, family

members of the victims pressedtheir hands over their mouths tostifle outcries of relief because—after a wait of nearly three years— they finally knew themanwhokilled their loved oneswould nev-er go free again.Emotions pinged across the

courtroom as Samour continuedreading.Count 4. Guilty.Brooke Cowden softly closed

her eyes at the recognition of jus-tice for her father, Gordon, whotook her to the movies that nightand whose body she had to stepover to escape the gunfire.Count 5. Guilty.Sandy Phillips pressed to her

lips the green scarf she wore ev-ery day during the trial, the onethat belonged to her slain daugh-ter, JessicaGhawi. The scarfmadeher feel like Jessi was giving her ahug, Phillips said.Count 6. Guilty.KathleenLarimer crumpled for-

ward in her chair, then leanedback and let the tears for her son,John, wash over her cheeks. Atlong last, she exhaled.Count 11. Guilty.Tom Teves held his wife’s hand

tightly and glared forward at theman who took his son, Alex, fromhim.Samour just kept reading.Count 12.“We the jury...”Count 35.“ ... find the defendant ... ”Count 98.

TRIAL«FROM 1A

“ ... James Eagan Holmes ... ”Count 165.“ ... guilty.”Shooting survivor JoshuaNowl-

an, wearing a short-sleeve shirtthat revealed the bullet scar onhisright arm, waited 50 counts tohear the first of the charges per-taining to him. Guilty. He closedhis eyes and nodded his head instoic approval.At the judge’s command, the de-

fendant stood for the length of theverdict’s reading. Holmes — now27, bearded and several poundsheavier than the red-haired wispwho shuffled into the same court-room for his first appearance —put his hands in his pockets andappeared to show little emotion.In the second row of chairs be-hind him, his parents staredblankly at the seatbacks in front ofthem.

Throughout the trial, prosecu-tors argued that the shooting,planned for months in advance,was a calculated act by a selfishman who wanted to kill others tomake himself feel better. Holmes,a former neuroscience graduatestudent at the University of Colo-rado, had recently broken upwithhis girlfriend, failed a crucialexam and dropped out of school.The defense countered that the

shooting was the result of a delu-sional belief by Holmes — whohas been diagnosed repeatedlywith some form of schizophrenia— that killing would boost his“human capital.” They paintedhim as a man controlled by histhoughts.It took jurors less than 13 hours

of deliberating over two days tomake up theirminds. At least partof that time was spent filling out

paperwork, as the foreman — asurvivor of the Columbine HighSchool shooting—had to sign hisname 329 times on the 659 pagesof verdict forms.When the jury gathered in the

courtroom around 4 p.m., theforeman delivered the verdict toSamour in five manila envelopes.One juror appeared to wipe tearsfromher eyes. Another lookedoutinto the victims’ side of the court-room gallery.For each of the 12 slain victims

and the 70wounded victims, Hol-mes was found guilty of twocounts. One count alleged first-degreemurder or attemptedmur-der after deliberation. The otheralleged first-degreemurder or at-temptedmurderwith extreme in-difference.The only variation in the jury’s

verdict came from three survivors

who were sitting in an adjacenttheater to Theater No. 9, wherethe shooting took place. Jurorsfound them the victims of at-tempted second-degree murderafter they were wounded by bul-lets that burst through the wall.Jurors also convictedHolmes of

possessing explosives, which heriggedwith gunpowder and gaso-line and homemade napalm forwhat he later told authorities wasintended to be a fire thatwould di-vert authorities away from thetheater.The case now moves to a death

penalty sentencing phase. OnMonday, the third anniversary ofthe shooting, prosecutors and de-fense attorneys will return tocourt to debate legal issues sur-roundingColorado’s death penal-ty procedures — which haven’tbeen used at trial since 2009,when a jury in Arapahoe Countysentenced Robert Ray to death.Jurors will return again to the

courtroom onWednesday for thestart of the sentencing phase,which could last several weeksand will likely include a new del-uge of emotional testimony —from victims, from survivors,from the parents of the convicted,all hoping for a ray of justice.On Thursday, as Samour read

the verdict, rain began falling out-side the courthouse — one ofthose Colorado storms where itpours and the sun shines at thesame moment. Then it cleared,and a rainbowbloomed just out ofreach in the distance.“I think it’s a relief, but it’s sad,”

said Katie Medley, standing out-side the courthouse after the ver-dict. Shewaswounded during theshooting; her husband, Caleb,wasparalyzed.“We were in a room full of peo-

ple that lost their sons and daugh-ters.”

John Ingold: 303-954-1068,jingold@denverpost.com ortwitter.com/johningold

Staff writers Jesse Paul, NoellePhillips and John Aguilarcontributed to this report.

Aurora theater shooting survivor CalebMedley flashes the “Live long and prosper” sign during a news conference at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennialafter Thursday’s verdicts were read. James Holmes was accused of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in the July 20, 2012, shooting. Andy Cross, The Denver Post

Shooting survivors, families and friends leave the Arapahoe County Justice Center after the guiltyverdicts were read Thursday. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post

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