Jury finds aggravating factors, death penalty still a possibility for Holmes

Jurors have decided there are aggravating factors that warrant prosecutors to seek the death penalty against James Holmes.

Prosecutors alleged there were five aggravating factors, including murdering more than one person and intending to kill someone under the age of 12.

Jurors ruled Thursday that there were four aggravating factors, which means the sentencing trial moves on to phase two and Holmes may still be sentenced to death.

One of the factors the jury had to consider was whether Holmes intentionally killed a child under the age of 12. The youngest victim in the attack, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, was 6 years old. The jury rejected this factor, saying the prosecution failed to prove Holmes intended to kill a child when he opened fire.

Holmes was convicted last week of killing 12 people and injuring 70 others in an Aurora movie theater three years ago.

Defense attorneys began presenting mitigating factors in phase two of the sentencing trial on Thursday by interviewing people who knew Holmes as a child. Attorneys are trying to convince jurors to sentence Holmes to life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of death.

Holmes’ high school cross-country coach said she was concerned Holmes might have had a learning disability because he would not interact with her.

Lori Godwin testified Thursday during the sentencing phase of Holmes’ trial that other students told her not to worry about him because he was smart.

Godwin says Holmes always kept his head down and rarely interacted with fellow runners. She described him as “kind of a shadow figure.”

She remembered being stern with him because he didn’t want to join the team for a group photo and said “he was part of us, but not part of us.”

One of Holmes’ teachers at Westview High School in San Diego said he remembered the Colorado theater shooter as quiet and withdrawn.

Thomas Oliver told jurors that the boy he knew as “Jimmy” was “kind of hard to get to know.”

Asked by defense attorney Tamara Brady if Holmes seemed like a happy teenager, Oliver said not to his recollection.

But a school administrator who knew Holmes as an elementary school student painted a different picture, saying Holmes was a normal, popular kid. Suzanne Diaz told jurors that “kids always liked to play with him. He was very good in sports.”

Defense attorneys will continue to call witnesses to testify when the sentencing trial resume Friday.