It was announced on Monday that prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty against James Holmes, the man accused of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting that killed 12 and wounded 70, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death,” Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said at the Monday hearing.
The attorneys for Holmes are expected to argue that Holmes is not guilty because he was legally insane when the shooting occurred on July 20. They did not want to enter that plea last month, claiming they could not make the move until a formal decision on the death penalty was made by the prosecutors.
One of the victims, Pierce O’Farrill, said that if the case goes to trial “all of us victims would be dragged along potentially for years. It could be 10 or 15 years before he’s executed. I would be in my 40s and I’m planning to have a family, and the thought of having to look back and reliving everything at that point in my life, it would be difficult.”
Last week, defense lawyers said that Holmes would plead guilty if he was permitted to spend life in prison without parole if the death penalty was taken off the table.
According to Alison Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, if Holmes is sentenced to prison if convicted, the department would determine what type of mental health care he receives.
