AURORA | A fourth juror in as many days was released in the Aurora theater shooting trial Monday, this time after the judge said he worried she wasn’t honest last week about a shooting involving her brother-in-law.
The juror, a middle-aged white woman, told Judge Carlos Samour, Jr., last week that her brother-in-law had been in an accident and asked for permission to visit him at a hospital. The next day, the woman said her brother-in-law had actually been shot but said she didn’t know that until after she told the judge he was in an accident.
The defense asked the judge to dismiss the woman last week, but Samour declined.
Samour said Monday that after thinking about it over the weekend, he had concerns about whether the woman was being honest with him when she said her brother was in an accident.
“I think she knew this was a shooting,” he said.
Given the magnitude of the case, Samour said he wasn’t willing to risk having a juror who he didn’t think was honest so he opted to release her.
The woman’s dismissal comes after Samour released three other jurors last week amid concerns that one heard details of the case through the media and discussed them with the other two.
Samour seated 12 alternates at the start of the trial just in case some jurors were dismissed during the lengthy trial. As of Monday, 12 jurors and eight alternates remain.
The remaining jurors heard more testimony Monday about the arsenal Holmes amassed in the months before the shooting. Prosecutors showed the jury surveillance video from the sporting goods stores where Holmes purchased his weapons — Gander Mountain and Bass Pro Shops — that showed Holmes buying an AR-15 rifle, shotgun and a Glock pistol. Employees from the stores also testified about the background checks Holmes had to pass before the sales could be completed.
Jurors also heard from two survivors who were in the theater the night of the shooting.
Jarell Brooks testified that he was wounded in the leg, and Pierce O’Farrill testified that he was shot multiple times, including in the arm and foot.
O’Farrill was one of the only survivors to testify that when he saw a canister fly through the theater just before the shooting started, he immediately assumed it was tear gas. Many others, including Brooks, have said they assumed the canister was some sort of prank.
Holmes is on trial for the July 20, 2012, shooting at the Aurora Century 16 theater that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity; prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Day 32 of the trial is set to start Tuesday morning.