After almost three years, James Holmes is finally facing judgment for his killing spree in 2012 at an Aurora movie theater. Of course, a rush to judgment would have violated his rights to due process. But almost as bad is a crawl to justice, which is common thanks to the delaying tactics of the defense in death penalty cases. Just as a defendant has the right to a speedy trial if he so desires, his victims and the general public have the right to reasonably timely justice.
Holmes’ legal team isn’t disputing anything that happened in the theater. The defense will be all about Holmes’ state of mind. The plea is “not guilty by reason of insanity.” During opening statements, defense attorney Daniel King told the jury, “All I am going to ask you is that you accept the reality. The reality is mental illness.”
There’s no dispute that Holmes is mentally ill. Only crazy, deranged, demented (pick your term) people do what he did. The jury’s daunting task will be to wade through conflicting testimony from psychiatric experts on both sides about Holmes’ mental state and then decide whether it fits the legal definition of criminal insanity. Cognitive criminal insanity requires that one didn’t realize the quality or nature of his actions or know that those actions were “wrong.” In areas like this, psychiatry is an inexact science.
It’s estimated that about 60 million Americans — or one in four adults — have some degree of mental illness, from anxiety to depression to schizophrenia. Holmes is a mass murderer. Over the last 30 years, FBI statistics show an annual average of 32 mass murders defined as the killing of four or more victims. If every one of those were committed by someone with a mental illness, that would mean that only an infinitesimal five one-hundred-thousandths of 1 percent of mentally ill people commit mass murders. The point being that mental illness isn’t the equivalent of criminal insanity.
Katherine Spengler, another of Holmes’ attorneys, told the jury that both of Holmes’ grandfathers suffered from mental illness. I suspect if they were also mass murderers, she’d have said so.
If Holmes had simply pleaded “not guilty,” the first phase of the trial would be about whether he committed the capital crimes of which he’s been charged. If found guilty, there’d be a second phase in which the jury would deliberate on the penalty: death or imprisonment. In this case, if the jury decides he’s not guilty by reason of insanity, he’ll be committed to a mental hospital with secure facilities for the criminally insane. Only if he’s convicted will there be a second, penalty phase.
Since the facts about what Holmes actually did aren’t in dispute in this trial, the defense will concentrate on his mental condition while the prosecutor, District Attorney George Brauchler, will not only offer experts to refute the insanity claim but also spend the next several months going painstakingly over the horrific details of the 12 people Holmes murdered and the 70 he wounded. From the prosecution’s standpoint, this isn’t an exercise in gratuitous theatrics. It’s wholly necessary to strengthen the jury’s resolve to reject the insanity defense, reach a guilty verdict and then impose the death sentence in the penalty phase.
Opponents of capital punishment harp on the cost during “20 years of appeals” following a death sentence. The remedy for that isn’t to eliminate capital punishment but rather to reign in the excessive appeals period. There’s no doubt Holmes committed these crimes. So, how much could there reasonably be to appeal if the jury rejects the insanity defense? If he were executed after, say, five years, the state would save the substantial expense of a lifetime of incarceration.
Freelance columnist Mike Rosen’s radio show airs weekdays from 1 to 3 p.m. on 850-KOA.
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