Theater Shooting Trial Jurors Unswayed By Boston Bomber Verdict
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - Attorneys for James Holmes told the judge on Monday they were concerned about the recent headlines from the Boston Marathon bombing trial possibly influencing jurors in the Aurora theater shooting case.
"Obviously there are number of parallels between that case and this case. They are both cases in which the prosecution has sought the death penalty against the defendant," defense attorney Kristen Nelson said in Arapahoe County Court Monday morning.
Nelson pointed to each case having a signficiant number of victims, young children who died and the possiblity of a death sentence.
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Prosecutors said it wasn't clear why the defense waited until now to bring up the issue.
"This is a huge shock, apparently. It's a huge shock that the sentence in that case got media coverage and they could never have thought about this beforehand to ask the court to take some action if they thought it was a problem," prosecutor Rich Orman said.
So Judge Carlos Samour went ahead and asked the jury "is there anything about that news coverage that you believe affects your ability to be a fair and impartial juror in this trial?"
No one raised their hand.
The trial then moved on with still another chilling story by a person who was shot.
"It hit my brain or something because I'm not able to move my right arm," victim Louis Duran said. "I didn't think I was going to make it."
Through the help of others Duran said he was able to survive.
A friend who was with him that night then took the witness stand, as a parade of trauma from the July 2012 shooting continues.
Kelly Bowen survived with the help of a male friend.
"I wasn't sure that we were going to make it out at the point until Dylan grabbed my hand and we ran up the stairs again," Bowen said.
She made it out but 12 lives were lost as a result of the shooting.
