Jury finds James Holmes guilty in Colorado theater shooting

A jury found James Holmes guilty Thursday in the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., in which twelve people died and 70 others were injured. The panel announced its decision after deliberating for a day and a half; he same jury will now decide whether to give Holmes the death penalty.

During the nearly three-month trial, Holmes’ attorneys argued he suffered from schizophrenia and was in the grip of a psychotic breakdown. The psychiatrist who treated Holmes testified she was so concerned about his mental state prior to the shooting that she broke patient confidentiality standards and called his mother. Dr. Lynne Fenton said Holmes told her he was having homicidal thoughts as many as three and four times a day, but never said he was building an arsenal or planning a specific attack. She said that in his therapy sessions, Holmes appeared anxious, hostile, bizarre, and so worrisome that she contacted University of Colorado police. But Fenton said she didn’t think she had enough evidence to commit Holmes to a mental facility.

Prosecutors maintained Holmes meticulously planned the attack over months and knew what he was doing. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys quoted from a journal in which Holmes wrote long, rambling philosophical passages and chilling musings about his desire to kill. “I decided to dedicate my life to killing others,” Holmes wrote in one entry.

The verdict came almost three years after Holmes, dressed head-to-toe in body armor, slipped through the emergency exit into a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. With a shotgun, a handgun, and an AR-15 rifle, he opened fire, taking aim at those who fled. His victims included two active-duty servicemen, a single mom, a man celebrating his 27th birthday, and an aspiring broadcaster who had survived a mall shooting in Toronto. Several died shielding friends or loved ones.

Leigh Jones and The Associated Press contributed to this report.