CENTENNIAL | After a weekend to review completed juror questionnaires, prosecutors and the defense in the Aurora theater shooting trial agreed to release more than 160 jurors Monday.
Those jurors, plus those released last week and a few released for language or medical issues Monday, brings the total to 384 jurors released since last week. A total of about 1,170 prospective jurors have reported to court over the course of five days so far.
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.
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.
Rescheduling with a drunk man might be difficult, but Samour said the court would try.
Samour also read a handful of juror questions from last week’s prospective jurors Monday, including questions from some 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.