There are no recent rampage killings where the shooter actually survived to stand trial. Therefore, we can only speculate on what will happen if television cameras are allowed into the courtroom of the Aurora Century Theater massacre trial.
In spite of very emphatic and detailed objections from the prosecution and defense attorneys, who both cited their concern about exposing witness and families of victims to worldwide electronic media harassment, a consortium of mega-media conglomerates have petitioned the court to allow a televised trial. According to their court filing, they believe that televising the trial will help the public understand the judicial system better and trumps any safety concerns the court may have for trial participants.
This trial is unlike the O.J. Simpson televised spectacle, which lasted 15 months and spotlighted the ineptness of the judge, prosecutor, and police force. That case cost the taxpayers of Los Angeles over $10 million and cost our county $40 billion in lost productivity. In that case, there was no death penalty on the table and there were two victims, not 82.
In that case, we had star quality; in this case, we have the complexity of 12 deaths and 70 wounded and the prosecution has identified 3,500 witnesses. To see a death penalty case to its conclusion in Colorado takes over 20 years (google Aurora’s other mass killing that occurred at Chuck E. Cheese’s), $10 million will be a drop in the bucket. It is like a reverse Robin Hood: Take from the poor (taxpayers) and give to the rich (news media conglomerates).
Incredibly, Aurora already has had two two mass murders, which makes it the No. 1 in the country per capita and per body count. The taxpayers of Arapahoe County should think about the cost in dollars, lost productivity and negative publicity. A mega media event such as this will lay your city open to world scrutiny.
While the smoke was still clearing and the smell of gunpowder and blood was still in the air, the police were trying to pick through the blood and brain matter to distinguish the wounded from the dead. My daughter, Jessica Redfield Ghawi, was one of the chosen ones who got to ride in one the police cars that were ferrying the wounded because she was still breathing. She died on the way to the hospital, but she did not have to lie among the 11 innocents who spent the night on the theater floor waiting to be identified, and for that, my wife and I are thankful.
We were spared the anguish the other families experienced while waiting to find out if their loved ones were dead or alive. We have talked to numerous and highly respected mental health professionals and there is a common thread that all of them agree on: Going on a killing spree is an attractive option for someone who is suicidal and angry at the world. When life does not meet their unrealistic expectations, they become enraged. This sick notion of going out in a blaze of glory is the mindset of these young rampage killers. The American media is going to court to fight for the right continue to provide the stage, and according to our mental health professionals, perpetuate the escalation of mass murder events. As we do this, we are turning them into celebrities in the eyes of their “like-minded wannabes” thereby sending them the message, “Kill enough people and we will pay homage to your killing skills.”
Having cameras in the courtroom has the potential to influence those who want the world to pay for their pain by becoming the most prolific killer of all time.
The entire country is not the jury. The jury is selected from the taxpayers of Arapahoe County to do the very serious job of deciding the fate of the accused. We have seen the trials of O.J. Simpson, Jodi Arias, George Zimmerman, Casey Anthony, but unfortunately few remember the names of those who were murdered. How many of the victims killed in the Aurora Theater massacre can you list from memory?
Let us focus instead as a nation on those who were brutally slaughtered instead of making those who kill infamous.
Lonnie Phillips is the father of Jessica Ghawi, one of the victims of the Aurora theater shooting.
