CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) – The courtroom where the Colorado theater shooting trial is unfolding is awash with emotion as survivors recount the horrors of dodging gunfire and stumbling over loved ones’ bodies as they fled.
But the man tethered to the floor at the defense table seems impervious to it all, hardly moving as witnesses share details of his carnage.
Interpretations of James Holmes’ stone-faced, nearly catatonic demeanor cuts to the heart of the case. His attorneys say he seems aloof because of anti-psychotic medications he has taken since he killed 12 people and injured 70 more in the packed movie theater. But prosecutors hint of something dark and calculating below that emotionless exterior.
Holmes has remained unaffected in the opening days of his death penalty trial, stoic even as attorneys revealed the most intimate details of his personal life, from his failures in romance to his family’s history of mental illness. He stares blankly ahead, rarely turning his head to glance at jurors or the crowded gallery. He doesn’t speak to the attorneys by his side. Not even the sight of his parents seated two rows behind him gives him any noticeable rise.
He’s so impassive that, even before his trial began, defense attorney Tamara Brady asked prospective jurors if they would read anything into his appearance, searching for those who wouldn’t study him too hard.