James Holmes,who walked into a
midnight screening of The Dark Knight and opened fire on over 400
theater goers in 2012, killing 12 and wounding 70 has been found guilty
of all 165 charges laid against him following the massacre, a Colorado
jury said on Thursday night.
Jansen Young was one person wounded in the attack, but her boyfriend, Jonathan Blunk, 26, who threw himself in front of her, died.
The 27-year-old who pleaded not
guilty by reason of insanity, with attorneys arguing he was mentally ill
and not aware of his actions at the time of mass shooting now faces the
death penalty or life in prison after his insanity defense was denied.
However the last person to be executed in the state was in 1997.
The jury panel, made up of 9 women
and 3 men, handed down their decision in Arapahoe County District Court
at 6.15pm after sitting trial for 11 weeks and then deliberating for
about 12.5 hours.
Holmes was found guilty of 24
charges of first-degree murder - two for each victim who was killed, 140
counts of attempted murder, 2 counts for each person wounded and one
charge of possession of an explosive device for a gas canister he let
off in the cinema.
Dressed in a blue shirt and khaki
pants, with his hair slicked down and wearing reading glasses, Holmes
stood motionless with his hands in his pockets as the verdict on all 165
of his charges were read aloud by judge Carlos Samour Jr. over the
course of about an hour.
The verdict announcement brought some level of comfort to the victims
who were shot by Holmes, and the families of those that he killed - many
of which witnessed the verdict being handed down.Jansen Young was one person wounded in the attack, but her boyfriend, Jonathan Blunk, 26, who threw himself in front of her, died.
'It's unreal,' Young said outside court.
'Someone attempted to murder me, in a movie theater, when I was just doing nothing.
'Finally, this is coming to a close.'
Young added: 'I didn't know how I
was going to feel. There was a weight lifted that I didn't even know was
there that I've been carrying for three years.'
Hansen remembered how Blunk, a father of two, protected her.
'Jonathan was a true hero,' she said.
'He pushed me under the seats. He laid on his side and boxed me in and lost his life.'
Daily Mail
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