Defense begins case in Colo. movie massacre trial

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Defense lawyers in Colorado’s movie massacre trial opened their case on Thursday, seeking to portray gunman James Holmes as insane and not in control of his actions when he plotted and carried out the 2012 rampage.

Holmes, a 27-year-old former neuroscience graduate student, opened fire inside a packed midnight premiere of a Batman film at a Denver-area multiplex, killing 12 people and wounding 70.

He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The prosecution wrapped up its case last week after calling more than 200 witnesses, including first responders, survivors, and two court-appointed psychiatrists who both concluded Holmes was sane when he planned and launched the attack.

The defendant, who was wearing a gas mask, ballistic helmet and listening to loud techno music through headphones, first hurled a teargas cannister into theater nine at the Century 16 cinema in Aurora, an eastern suburb of Denver.

He then opened fire with an automatic rifle, shotgun and pistol. Prosecutors say he did it because he had lost his career, his girlfriend and his purpose in life, and that he had a longstanding “hatred of mankind.”

Holmes’ public defenders say their client suffers from schizophrenia, that since he was in high school he has heard voices in his head commanding him to kill, and that he was not in control of his actions.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the California native was solely responsible for the massacre, a conviction and then death sentence is far from certain, said former veteran Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman.

“It only takes one juror to derail this death penalty train,” said Silverman, who prosecuted the last defendant in the city to receive a capital punishment sentence.

Under Colorado’s death penalty statute, a defendant can be found not guilty by reason of insanity if a person cannot tell right and wrong, or if a mental disease prevents the individual from forming the “culpable mental state.”

In a videotaped sanity examination shown to jurors by the prosecution, Holmes indicated that he knew he would go to prison if caught, and that he now “regrets” the shootings.