AURORA | After less than a full day of deliberating, jurors in the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes have reached a verdict on the convicted mass murderer’s fate.
A spokesman for the state’s courts announced at 2 p.m. that jurors had completed the verdict forms. Judge Carlos Samour will take the bench to read the verdict at 5 p.m.
Earlier in the day, jurors requested a TV and a DVD player in order to review some video exhibits from earlier in the sentencing phase.
The panel of nine women and three men deliberated for about an hour Thursday before going home without reaching a decision. They continued Friday for about five and a half hours before completing the forms.
District Attorney George Brauchler told them death was the only appropriate sentence for Holmes, who was convicted of murdering 12 people and trying to kill 70 more during a crowded midnight movie premiere in July 2012.
But defense attorney Tamara Brady urged them to have mercy on Holmes, saying his schizophrenia and psychotic delusions drove him to kill.
Death sentences must be unanimous in Colorado. If even one juror disagrees with capital punishment for Holmes, he would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.