Lawyers for accused theater shooter James Holmes told Judge Carlos Samour Jr. they were worried about the effect the widespread media coverage of the death sentence handed down for the Boston Marathon bomber might have on jurors.
“We are concerned because of the parallels, obvious parallels, between that case and this case,” public defender Kristen Nelson said.
Jurors are not sequestered and are allowed to watch the news as long as they avoid any coverage of the theater shooting trial.
Nelson asked Samour to poll the jurors about whether they saw news reports about the Boston case and make sure that those reports wouldn’t alter the way they rule in this case.
Samour granted the request over objection from the prosecution — who argued there was no connection between the cases — but said he was doing so out of an “abundance of caution.”
The jurors all said the Boston case wouldn’t influence them, and some appeared to say they hadn’t heard any news about the case.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 and wounding 70 others during the July 2012 shooting rampage at the Century Aurora 16 theater.
Monday marked day 14 in the trial, which is expected to continue through August or September.
Prosecutors continued to mix testimony from victims with testimony about Holmes’ life in the weeks and months leading to the shooting.
Jurors heard from five people who were in the theater that night, including three who were wounded and a theater employee.
Kelly Bowen said she was at the theater that night with a friend when she saw the emergency exit door swing open and a figure dressed in black step through.
“He stood there and stared for a moment,” she said.
Bowen said she tried to run when the shooting started but fell.
“I kept tripping on the stairs because there were shoes and flip flops from people who had just left them behind,” she said.
Catherine Streib, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, said she was shot in her lower back and the bullet missed vital organs by just a centimeter.
Louis Duran and Ryan Lumba testified they went to the movie that night with a few other friends. The two men said they met up for the movie after working late shifts, Duran at a restaurant near Southlands Mall and Lumba at a popcorn store in Town Center at Aurora.
Duran said he thought someone was playing a prank when the shooting started and didn’t realize what was happening until something hit him in the head like a “haymaker” and knocked him down.
Duran said he thought he was going to die and he called his mom on his cell phone.
Once the shooting stopped, Duran said he was able to make it outside and was later rushed to a hospital. Doctors found 27 or 28 pieces of shrapnel in Duran’s head, fingers, face, wrist, arm and knee, he said.
Lumba said he was dazed after being shot and only remembered holding onto his stomach until he later woke up in a hospital several days after the shooting.
Doctors told him he had been struck by several shotgun pellets and a bullet punctured his lung. He said he still has some pellets lodged in his body.
Daniel Jensen, who was the theater’s assistant manager the night of the shooting, was the first theater employee to take the stand so far.
Jensen detailed the layout of the theater and said by the time he ran to theater No. 9 after the shooting started, police were already on scene.
Prosecutors also continued to lay out the timeline of Holmes’ preparations in the weeks before the attack, this time focused on his grocery shopping habits. Thomas Sheridan of Kroger detailed Holmes’ shopping history at a King Soopers near his north Aurora apartment.
Using data stored when Holmes’ used his King Soopers loyalty card, Sheridan detailed several trips to the store in June and July 2012. The transactions included typical items such as pork chops, toothpaste, Cheerios, salmon and bananas, but also some that prosecutors say Holmes used to booby-trap his apartment. Those included four bottles of Pennzoil motor oil, that prosecutors say he poured on his floor along with gasoline, as well as Styrofoam cups he used to make napalm with. He also purchased several air fresheners that prosecutors allege he used to mask the scent of gasoline in his apartment in the days leading up to the shooting.
Prosecutors also made their first mention of Holmes’ apparent interest in motorcycles before the shooting.
Roger Erikson, who owned Iron Buffalo motorcycle training in Aurora, said Holmes signed up for a motorcycle training class in June 2012. It wasn’t clear from testimony whether Holmes actually attended the course.
Jurors also heard from a man who said his company sold Holmes a pair of motorcycle boots that month.
The defense asked that a juror be excused after the juror said she knew Kelly Eliassen, an investigator for the district attorney’s office.
The juror said she has known Eliassen for several years and sees him about once a year at a Christmas party. She said she didn’t recognize Eliassen’s name on a list of potential witnesses shown to jurors during jury selection, but recognized him when he took the stand Monday.
Public Defender Daniel King said the juror should be released because she knows Eliassen, who has interviewed several witnesses in the case for the prosecution.
A handful of jurors have told Samour that they recognize witnesses, but Monday marked the first time either the prosecution or defense had asked that a juror be dismissed because of it.
Eliassen was going to testify briefly Monday about records from an Aurora motorcycle store where Holmes bought boots in June 2012. Prosecutors opted not to have Eliassen to testify after the defense objections and the juror remained on the jury.
But, Samour said, prosecutors need to tell the court in advance if they want to call him to the stand again. King said the defense could raise the issue about the juror’s relationship with Eliassen again.