Guilty!

John Ingold and Jordan Steffen report in the Denver Post that a jury in Aurora, Colorado has found that

James Holmes is guilty of murder for killing 12 people in an Aurora movie theater three years ago, a jury decided Thursday, ending the legal limbo for one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

In count after emphatic count, jurors rejected the defense's argument that what happened at the Century Aurora 16 theater on July 20, 2012, was a tragic act of insanity. It was a deliberate crime, jurors said.

Holmes now faces possible execution as punishment.

The jury of nine women and three men found Holmes guilty of 24 counts of first-degree murder — two for each victim slain — as well as 134 counts of first-degree attempted murder, six counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of explosives possession.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that the shooting, planned for months in advance, was a calculated act by a selfish man who wanted to kill others to make himself feel better. Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student at the University of Colorado, had recently broken up with his girlfriend, failed a crucial exam and dropped out of school.

The defense countered that the shooting was the result of a delusional belief by Holmes — who has been diagnosed repeatedly with some form of schizophrenia — that killing would boost his "human capital." They painted him as a man controlled by his thoughts.

...On Thursday, as Samour read the verdict, rain began falling outside the courthouse — one of those Colorado storms where it pours and the sun shines at the same moment. Then it cleared, and a rainbow bloomed just out of reach in the distance.

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