NOTES FROM THE AURORA THEATER SHOOTING TRIAL JURY SELECTION:
2:40 p.m.
AURORA | Another 65 prospective jurors were released Monday afternoon in the Aurora theater shooting case.
About 1,170 prospective jurors have reported to court so far, and a total of 384 have been released as of Monday afternoon.
Also Monday, Judge Carlos Samour, Jr. said one of the prospective jurors who was scheduled to appear in court Monday morning appeared to be drunk.
The man told court staff he wasn’t feeling well and court staff believed he was acting strangely and smelled like alcohol, Samour said.
Prosecutors said they wanted to release the man from his summons, but the defense objected and said he should be scheduled to come back another day.
Samour said that rescheduling with a drunk man might be difficult, but the court would try.
The two sides are due back in court Tuesday morning.
1:40 p.m.
CENTENNIAL | Four more prospective jurors in the Aurora theater shooting trial have been released, bringing the total released to 319.
The jurors released Monday afternoon include three who don’t speak English. The other was a juror who appeared for jury duty last week but had to leave in an ambulance. They came back this week with a doctor’s note saying they should not serve on a jury.
More than a dozen jurors have been released so far because they didn’t speak English.
Rebekka Higgs, one of Holmes’ public defenders, said she was concerned about the number of jurors being released because of language issues. So far, the court has released people who speak no English or who struggle so much with the language they brought a family member to help translate. Higgs said she wants that standard to remain in place.
10:13 a.m.
CENTENNIAL | After a weekend to review completed juror questionnaires, prosecutors and the defense in the Aurora theater shooting trial agreed to release 98 jurors Monday morning.
Those jurors, plus those released last week and a few released for language or medical issues this morning, brings the total to 315 jurors released since last week.
Judge Carlos Samour had said last week that he hoped the two sides would find a large group of jurors to dismiss over the weekend. He said Monday that with 9,000 prospective jurors being called, is important the two sides do everything they can to find jurors who can be released early.
“You should be as reasonable as you can be,” he said.
Those released Monday morning include one juror who said last week they were a “wound specialist” for one of the victims, and another who said they previously served on a jury in Samour’s courtroom.
Court is in recess until 1:10 p.m.
9:22 a.m.
CENTENNIAL | Three more prospective jurors in the Aurora theater shooting trial Monday morning were released Monday because they didn’t speak English or weren’t citizens.
That brings the total released to 216, though that number should increase later this morning.
Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read a handful of juror questions during Monday morning’s session from last week’s prospective jurors, including questions from hoping to be dismissed.
One woman asked the court to dismiss her because her daughter is getting married this summer. That prospective juror included a lengthy list of preparations for the ceremony she has already made — including buying a dress, booking hotels and a venue, paying a caterer and others. Samour didn’t release the juror but instead told her to list her concerns on the hardship section of the questionnaire.
Another juror was apparently hungry enough last week to lodge a complaint with the judge.
“Why aren’t any snacks provided?” the juror wrote.
Holmes appeared in court wearing a dark blazer, dark slacks and a white striped shirt.
8:30 A.M.
CENTENNIAL | Jury selection in the Aurora theater shooting trial is set to continue Monday morning at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial.
Monday marks the fifth day of jury selection for accused shooter James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 and wounding dozens more during a July 2012 shooting rampage at an Aurora movie theater.
Last week, 213 prospective jurors were released from their summonses, but that number could jump Monday morning.
Judge Carlos Samour, Jr. said Friday that after lawyers Holmes and the prosecution review some of the roughly 800 completed questionnaires over the weekend there will likely be more released Monday.
So far, the two sides have agreed to release about 160 prospective jurors after reviewing their questionnaires. The others have been released because they didn’t live in Arapahoe County, have some connection to the case or don’t speak English.
Holmes has appeared in court each day wearing civilian clothes and has sat quietly throughout the hearings.