CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) – At least 100 victims and witnesses of James Holmes’ deadly attack on a Colorado movie theater are expected to testify about the crime’s profound and continuing impact on their lives during a formal sentencing hearing starting Monday.
The three-day hearing gives survivors a chance to share their harrowing stories with the judge, but it won’t change Holmes’ sentence. Jurors already determined that Holmes will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole for the July 20, 2012, attack that killed 12 people and injured 70 others.
Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. will formally sentence Holmes to life on 24 counts of first-degree murder – two for each of those killed. This week’s testimony will help him determine Holmes’ sentences on 141 other counts that include attempted murder and an explosives charge. Samour has not set a limit on the number of people who can take the stand.
Many victims testified during Holmes’ four-month trial about the terror and carnage he inflicted on more than 400 people who filled the seats at a sold-out midnight movie premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” in suburban Aurora. Holmes, a former graduate student in neuroscience, slipped into the darkened theater, threw gas canisters into the crowd and opened fire with a shotgun, assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol.
Now, victims will be able to talk about the enduring harm he caused. They won’t be able to address Holmes directly but rather the judge.