CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Attorneys in the Colorado theater shooting case are making their final decisions about the jurors who will decide the fate of the man charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 others nearly three years ago.
Jury selection entered its final stage Monday with the judge, prosecutors, and defense attorneys questioning prospective jurors as a large group.
They will whittle the remaining candidates to 12 jurors and 12 alternates to serve in the months-long trial of James Holmes, who had a shorter haircut for the hearing and shaved the bushy beard he wore during the last round of jury questioning. He wore a brown shirt and reddish, tortoise-shell glasses.
Opening statements are scheduled for April 27.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the July 20, 2012, attack at a Denver-area movie theater. His attorneys do not dispute that he pulled the trigger but say he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he slipped into the theater and opened fire while dressed from in combat gear.
Prosecutors say Holmes was sane and will ask jurors to convict him and sentence him to death.
Jury selection in the case began Jan. 20, and experts say it was among the largest and most complicated in US history.