CENTENNIAL | The initial phase of jury selection in the Aurora theater shooting trial will wrap up Feb. 9 āfour days earlier than planned āthe judge overseeing the case ruled Monday.
Judge Carlos Samour Jr. said Monday he would trim four days off this first phase, during which jurors report to court and fill out a lengthy questionnaire.
The defense last week said they support the change, but the prosecution objected.
The next phase, which is scheduled to include individual questioning of 12 jurors each day for 16 weeks, will start Feb. 11.
Samour said he thinks the next phase could move faster than expected just as the first phase has.
āIām optimistic by nature so I am hoping it will not take us 16 weeks,ā he said.
Samour released another 146 jurors from service Monday, including one who said last week they regularly work with the police on media relations issues, one who works at a hospital that treated the victims, and one who said they know a person convicted of a crime. That brings the total released over the first ten days of jury selection to more than 1,000.
James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 and wounding dozens more during the July 2012 shooting rampage at an Aurora movie theater, sat quietly at the defense table during this morningās session, writing or doodling on a notepad.
One of the jurors this morning sent a note to the court that said they canāt read and asked to be released. Samour didnāt release the person and said the fact that the prospective juror wrote a note seemed to point out that the person could, in fact, read.
Two jurors released Monday had asked to be released but because they didnāt bring enough proof, Samour question both of them in court before letting them go. In one case, a man said he had mental health issues and would struggle with being ātoo friendlyā when other jurors came into the room. The man was released after both the prosecution and defense said he should be.
Another woman became emotional after Samour briefly questioned her and was later released.
Samour declined to release a woman who brought a note from her pediatrician saying she was currently breast feeding. The woman left a session last week when her infant was sick. The judge said the court could make accommodations for her to breast feed should she be selected.
Another juror said she had moved to Denver, but was planning to move back to Aurora in April. Samour and prosecutors wanted the woman released, but the defense asked that she stay. The judge said he would review the law surrounding whether a juror who does not live in Arapahoe County but who is planning to move back could serve on a jury.