I also read some comments that were posted on The Denver Channel's website where they had live video.
Overall, I am surprised. I honestly thought they were headed towards the death penalty. After all, the Boston bomber got the death penalty and he only killed 3 people.
I don't think they were swayed by emotion but I do think they may have been swayed by the fact that Holmes is mentally ill. Interestingly, I had read that Brachler worked to keep the death penalty just for Holmes. If a jury won't sentence Holmes to death in Colorado, I seriously doubt they'd sentence anyone else to death. This might actually spell the beginning of the end of the death penalty in Colorado.
While I'm surprised by the jury's decision, I have to admit if I had been in their shoes I'm not sure I could vote to sentence someone like Holmes to death either. Holmes isn't a clear cut case where you can sentence him to death and not feel any guilt or remorse. Someone like Paul Bernardo, however, is. I don't blame the jury for not giving him the death penalty, it would probably have weighed on them, unfairly, for years. Maybe the rest of their lives. And it's not like the other option was that he went free, so they can feel good knowing he won't be able to do this again and he's being punished.
I think the media was surprised by the outcome. And I'm sure some of the victim's families are feeling justice wasn't obtained. I know that there were quite a few people posting comments online that were quite angry at the verdict. But others that were understanding. In the court of public opinion, no unanimous verdict has been reached either.
After the verdict was read the judge dismissed the jury with his thanks and scheduled the next sentencing hearing for the remaining counts (attempted murder and the explosives count). In these cases the judge gets to decide sentencing. And while he'll be fair, it really doesn't matter what he decides as it won't change Holmes' situation in any way. Kind of seems like a waste of time actually.
I wonder what prison he'll be sent to. I imagine he won't stay in the county jail for life, but who knows. And I wonder if they'll put him in the general population. I doubt it, they didn't do that at the county jail. But at the county jail he hadn't been convicted yet. Hmmmmm. I also wonder what type of psychiatric treatment he'll get in prison. He had good treatment up until now, but he was still waiting for his trial and everyone under the sun ended up assessing him. It is possible his treatment will go downhill from here on out. I'm not sure the U.S. prison system is known for its good mental health programs.
The next sentencing hearing isn't till the end of August. And that won't be overly exciting. I'm going to have to find something else to watch!
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