FILE -- This Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 file photo shows a view of the jury box, right, inside Courtroom 201, where jury selection in the trial of Aurora movie theater shootings defendant James Holmes is to begin on Jan. 20 at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo. The trial begins with 9,000 possible jurors and a rare opportunity to see a mass shooter stand trial. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool, File)

AURORA | Jurors in the Aurora theater shooting trial got the day off Friday after one called in sick with a sinus infection.

The jury reported to court but didn’t hear from any witnesses after Judge Carlos Samour Jr. sent them home after less than an hour because of the juror’s sickness.

Both the prosecution and defense said they would rather take the day off than dismiss the juror.

With the jury gone, the defense called several witnesses and videotaped their testimony to show to the jury at a later date. The witnesses — all of whom knew shooter James Holmes when he was growing up in California — could not testify at a later date, said public defender Rebekka Higgs.

Each witness said Holmes was a quiet, bright and well-behaved child growing up near Monterrey, Calif., and later San Diego.

The same jury that last week convicted Holmes of killing 12 and wounding 70 more in the July 2012 attack in a packed Aurora movie theater is now deciding whether he should be sentenced to death.

Testimony is expected to resume Monday morning.

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