Execution of Colorado theater shooter unlikely
While her 6-year-old grandson, Ace, stays by her side, Kathi Darciprette hangs a marker back on the cross for Micayla Medek, one of the victims of the Colorado theater massacre. (Associated Press)
DENVER – The time has come for jurors to hear whether James Holmes should be executed for killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater. But even if they choose death, Holmes could spend the rest of his life in prison awaiting capital punishment that never happens.
Colorado has executed only one person in nearly half a century, and just three people sit on the state’s death row. The man closest to seeing his death sentence carried out was granted an indefinite reprieve in 2013 by the Democratic governor, who said he had doubts about the fairness of the state’s death penalty system.
“Capital punishment is on life support in Colorado,” Denver attorney Craig Silverman said.
As a prosecutor, Silverman secured a death sentence in 1986 against a man for kidnapping and killing a woman. Sixteen years later, Frank Rodriguez died from hepatitis C complications.
The same jurors who convicted Holmes of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in his July 20, 2012, attack must soon decide whether he should pay with his life. The sentencing phase of his trial begins today.
The district attorney who prosecuted Holmes, George Brauchler, said that if any crime should be punished by death, it is this one: Holmes opened fire on an audience of more than 400 defenseless strangers in a darkened theater during a “Batman” movie premiere, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
But many obstacles stand between Holmes and execution.
Colorado has adopted a unique system for death row appeals, requiring those sentenced to death to file post-conviction claims before a higher court reviews their case. It was supposed to speed up the process, but “it actually slowed it down exponentially,” said Hollis Whitson, a Denver defense attorney.
Holmes’ appeals could be even more complex because of his mental illness. Doctors testified that he suffers from schizophrenia. If his mental state deteriorates while he is on death row, he may never be executed, said Michael Radelet, a professor at the University of Colorado who has studied the death penalty.
“If he is sent to death row, we’re going to need dump trucks full of money to pay the mental health experts who will continue to argue this for the next 20 years,” Radelet said. “Even if Holmes is sane today, there will be inevitable questions about his sanity at the time of execution.”