12 LIFE SENTENCES PLUS 3,318 YEARS ON AURORA THEATER SHOOTING GUNMAN JAMES HOLMES

യുഎസ് തിയറ്ററിലെ കൂട്ടക്കൊലയ്ക്ക് ശിക്ഷ.

3318 വർഷം ജയിൽ

12 LIFE SENTENCES PLUS 3,318 YEARS ON AURORA THEATER SHOOTING GUNMAN

Judge Carlos Samour Jr. on Wednesday sentenced James Holmes to the maximum time in prison possible for committing the Aurora movie theater shooting. Holmes was ordered to serve 12 consecutive life sentences in prison — one for every person he killed on July 20, 2012 — followed by another 3,318 years for trying to kill 70 other people and plotting to blow up his apartment. There is no chance for parole.James Holmes is led out of the courtroom after being formally sentenced. The formal sentencing concluded on Wednesday at Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, August 26, 2015. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

The millennia-spanning sentence is one of the longest ever handed down in America, and  delivered it without once saying Holmes' name or even speaking directly to him. When he was finished, shortly before noon on the 175th day that Holmes spent in court, Samour looked toward the killer with a scowl uncharacteristic of the normally even-tempered judge.And as a sheriff's deputy pulled Holmes toward the exit, the lingering sound of the Aurora theater shooting trial was not the sound of gunshots that percussed the courtroom in 911 calls played during the trial or the sound of weeping that so often filled the empty spaces when there was nothing more to say. It was the sound of jubilant, exultant voices from those the shooting hurt most.A courtroom audience filled with them burst into applause when Samour delivered his final rebuke. There were whoops and cheers that only grew louder when the crowd realized Samour would do nothing to stop them. One woman shouted, "Loser! Loser! Loser!"

And then the door closed, and Samour stepped down. A journey to justice 1,132 days in the making had ended.For the first time in more than three years, the people hurt by the shooting and the person who hurt them will now walk divergent paths.Holmes will be handed over to the Colorado Department of Corrections, which will probably first assess him at a facility in Denver before assigning him to a prison. It is entirely up to corrections officials whether Holmes is placed in solitary confinement or the general prison population. He could be sent to a prison out of state, although prosecutor Rich Orman said Wednesday, "I think most places would be extremely reluctant and would need a lot of persuading before they would agree to take him."Survivors of the shooting, their friends and family, and loved ones of those slain will now return to lives irrevocably altered by the attack on the Century Aurora 16 theater and try to move forward. Prosecutors have requested that Holmes pay restitution of more than $700,000, an amount that could rise in the coming days as more expenses are added up.

 Prosecutor George Brauchler in court as James Holmes appears before the judge to be formally sentenced, August 26, 2015. Before Samour imposed his sentence, he directed most of his hour-long comments toward the survivors and victims' families. He defended the justice system in the face of criticism about the outcome — in which jurors convicted Holmes of every count he faced but split over whether he should be executed, the harshest punishment allowed by state law. Samour pushed back against the suggestion that the case should have been settled by a plea bargain rather than going to trial.Look at the outcome another way, he urged. Look at the information learned about the crime that would have remained hidden without a trial. See the opportunities that parents had to tell the jurors about their slain children.People in the courtroom audience stared back stone-faced. But as Samour ticked through some of those details for each of the slain victims — Jonathan Blunk's strength, Jesse Childress' sense of adventure, Matthew McQuinn's charm — the faces in the courtroom softened. Some began to cry.criminal quit on life, Samour said. He suffered some setbacks — a failure at school, a broken relationship — and he just gave up, deciding instead to commit "horrific, senseless, heinous, cowardly, shocking acts."It was a credit to the justice system that a jury of strangers — a literal representation of the community that Holmes struck at — could hold him accountable for his crimes, Samour said. And it was a poignant footnote that at least one juror showed the killer the mercy that he showed none of his victims.സിനിമാ തിയറ്ററിൽ കടന്നുകയറി 12 പേരെ വെടിവച്ചുകൊല്ലുകയും 77 പേരെ പരുക്കേൽപ്പിക്കുകയും ചെയ്ത കേസിൽ ഇരുപത്തിയേഴുകാരനായ ജയിംസ് ഹോംസിനു 12 ജീവപര്യന്തം തടവുശിക്ഷയും പരോളില്ലാതെ 3318 വർഷം തടവും കോടതി വിധിച്ചു.പ്രതി സ്വതന്ത്രസമൂഹത്തിൽ ഒരിക്കലും കാലുകുത്തരുതെന്നാണു കോടതിയുടെ തീരുമാനമെന്നും പരമാവധി ശിക്ഷ അർഹിക്കുന്ന ഒരു കേസുണ്ടെങ്കിൽ അതിതാണെന്നും ജഡ്ജി കാർലോസ് എ. സാമർ പറഞ്ഞു.

2012 ജൂലൈ 20നു ബാറ്റ്മാൻ സിനിമ ‘ദ് ഡാർക്ക് നൈറ്റ് റൈസസി’ന്റെ അർധരാത്രി പ്രദർശനം നടക്കുകയായിരുന്ന യുഎസിലെ കൊളറാഡോ സംസ്ഥാനത്തെ ഡെൻവറിലെ സിനിമാ തിയറ്ററിൽ സായുധനായി കടന്നുചെന്ന പ്രതി കാണികൾക്കു നേരെ നിറയൊഴിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു.

ഹോംസ് കുറ്റക്കാരനാണെന്നു മൂന്നുവർഷം നീണ്ട വിചാരണയ്ക്കൊടുവിൽ കഴിഞ്ഞ മാസം കോടതി വിധിച്ചിരുന്നു. കൊളറാഡോയിൽ വധശിക്ഷ നിയമവിധേയമാണെങ്കിലും ഹോംസിനു വധശിക്ഷ നൽകുന്ന കാര്യത്തിൽ ജൂറിയിൽ ഭിന്നാഭിപ്രായമുണ്ടായി. തുടർന്നു 12 പേരെ വെടിവച്ചു കൊന്നതിനു 12 ജീവപര്യന്തത്തിനു പുറമേ മരണം സംഭവിക്കാമായിരുന്ന 140 വധശ്രമങ്ങൾക്കും സ്വന്തം അപാർട്മെന്റിൽ ബോംബ് വച്ചതിനും 3318 വർഷം പരോളില്ലാത്ത തടവും കോടതി വിധിച്ചു.

Prof. John Kurakar

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