Jury reaches verdict in Aurora, CO, theater shooting trial

[josykay]

Yeah, you can be jailed until you die. But you usually do have the chance of parole sooner or later, and that "Sicherungsverwahrung" has to be reevaluated frequently, so even those got, in theory the possibility of being set free at some time. You can be jailed until you die in many european countries, but you do still have the theoretical chance of parole.

On the opposite I thought, "Life imprisoment without parole" in the US would mean "until you die". You do not have any parole hearings, and depending from state to state amnesty can not be granted by the officials?

[drwelfare]

Yeah, you can be jailed until you die. But you usually do have the chance of parole sooner or later, and that "Sicherungsverwahrung" has to be reevaluated frequently, so even those got, in theory the possibility of being set free at some time. You can be jailed until you die in many european countries, but you do still have the theoretical chance of parole.

On the opposite I thought, "Life imprisoment without parole" in the US would mean "until you die". You do not have any parole hearings, and depending from state to state can not be granted by the officials?

Guy who killed my uncle got life, he serves a minimum of 20, at which point he is eligible for parole every 5 years, he can not max out his time and be released though. Another guy on a rape charge got life, served 12 years, got out went back for drug test did 7 more years and paroled out again, is under supervision until they decide to release him from supervision but he is out of prison.

[Acidbaron]

I disagree. And the death penalty is still very much alive and well here. Check on the death penalties the state of Missouri has carried out the last few years.

Disagree as much you want, any death penalty avoided is an advancement made to a more modern society and justice system.

[Hypasonic]

I don't think medical diagnoses should be based on "looking a little crazy" (and Holmes' diagnosis certainly was not based on such) but he does have a certain wild-eyed look and has apparently had it for quite some time, if you happen to look at the pictures of Holmes when he was younger.

I'm torn about the verdict. On one hand, I feel like justice was carried out for the victims. On the other hand, I feel like this is one of those times where there was ample evidence and support for an insanity defense.

Will be interesting to see what happens during sentencing.

Don't get it though, why is it ok for someone with mental issues to kill people? I mean, hes an adult (not sure of age) but surely his "issues" (if any) would have been known and diagnosed at an earlier stage?

[timberx]

If him being locked up won't bring closure neither will him getting killed, in both cases he never enters society again.
What you are preaching here is vengeance not justice.

I'm not preaching anything. As I said, I myself oppose the death penalty. But I can understand if some of the victims' families feel cheated.

[Poopymonster]

Then why don't you volunteer to pay the millions of dollars to house him in a federal prison till he dies of old age.

That goes for the rest of you who are happy he got life in prison.

I can get you the address to send your donation checks to so the burden is not on the tax payer of whatever state he is housed in.



So lets just shoot for a short life of 60 for Mr Holmes. That will cost a cool $866,802 of tax dollars. That is just if he lives till the young age of 60. Double that number if he is makes it to 90.

But wait lets not forget about inflation. Who knows how much more it will cost 30-60 years from now.

Which one of you chuckle heads will be the first to open your wallet?

Our best hope is he gets shanked by his own kind behind bars by those who don't take kindly to people like him.

You would dare deny glorious free market prison corporations chance to earn rightfully owed moneys by vile dog criminals? Kill take person out of race now. Life is an investment for glorious free market companies!

The invisible hand will save him, giving the for profit prison tons of publicity, funding, and a celebrity who probably will never leave.

Trump Bless Capitalism.

[josykay]

Don't get it though, why is it ok for someone with mental issues to kill people? I mean, hes an adult (not sure of age) but surely his "issues" (if any) would have been known and diagnosed at an earlier stage?

It is not. If he would have been successfull with his insanity pledge he would still have been locked up for life. The only difference is, that then it is in a specific, and guarded mental hospital. The prime objective of the defense was, to got him off the death penalty, which they would have got for sure, if the jury would have found him not guilty because of insanity, not to give him a shorter sentence.
I really hope, he gets treatment while in prison. Not to shorten the sentence, but leaving a mental illness untreated is pontentially dangerous for Holmes, and others around him.

As for a previous diagnosis as an adult, first of all, you need to accept, that you have a mental illness, und more importantly, that you do need help. This is a tricky subject, since usually mentally ill can not be treated against their will, if they do not endanger society or themself. Now endangering society is mostly only the case, if some harm in any form has been done before, and such is the case about selfharm... usually there has to be a serious suicide attempt, or massiv self injuring behaviour, before anything can be done. Not to mention the fact, that because of the social stigmar of mentall illnesses, many patients suffer a long periode in denial, being unable to accept the diagnosis.
Secondly he must be able to affort a proper diagnosis, since therapy is very expensive. I do not know Holmes financial background very well, but people being unable to affort treatment is a massive problem.
Thirdly the symptoms of mental illnesses can become pretty severe after some time, making the illness more obvious. I do not believe, that you can fake a mental illness so easily, especially in cases, involving such a crime, and as we can see, even if he is mentally ill, that does not mean , that he can not hold responsible for his actions.