Photo: Andy Cross/Pool/Reuters/Corbis
The same jury that found James Holmes guilty of 160 counts of murder and attempted murder has decided to keep the death penalty as an option as it moves forward with the 27-year-old’s sentencing. The jurors had been given the opportunity to rule out execution after hearing testimony from friends and family who blamed Holmes’s actions — which resulted in the deaths of 12 people and the wounding of dozens more during a 2012 screening of The Dark Knight Rises — on his mental illness. The jury will now hear from the victims’ relatives before voting on whether to sentence Holmes to death or life in prison.
