CENTENNIAL | Opening statements for the trial against accused theater shooter James Holmes were set for as early as April 21 — weeks earlier than first expected, Judge Carlos Samour Jr. told attorneys March 5. The final phase of jury selection will be concluded one week before opening statements.
A second date for opening statements was announced as April 27, should one juror with a pending wedding be selected for the final panel.
Thursday’s individual questioning of potential jurors ended with five potential jurors being kept for group questioning and seven excused. The count of potential jurors is now at 56. Samour said he expects to grow that pool to 120 before narrowing it down to 24 jurors and alternates that will hear the case.
One potential juror that moved on to individual questioning Thursday has her wedding the week of April 21. Samour said if she were to be one of the 24 final jurors, they would push opening questions back to April 27.
Among the jurors kept were two men, one 18 and one 21. When the judge asked the 18-year-old if he was up for this challenge, he said he believes he can handle the responsibility.
Samour predicted that they would retain approximately 3.6 jurors daily and therefore the court will only need 38 more sessions in order to reach 137 jurors. Today marked the end of the week for the court, and individual questioning will continue on Monday.