CENTENNIAL, Colo. 鈥� The Aurora theater shooter has an IQ听 score of 123, which ranks him in the category dubbed 鈥渟uperior intelligence鈥�.
Attorneys prosecuting the shooter, James Holmes, have brought this to the jury鈥檚 attention on multiple occasions, this week included. But what does this mean to the jury who must decide whether the defendant was legally insane at the time he gunned down an Aurora movie theater, killing 12 and injuring 70 people?
While a score of 123 is well above the average American鈥檚 IQ score, it鈥檚 still 22 points shy of genius ranking. President George W. Bush has a rumored IQ score of 125, and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino boasts an IQ of 160 鈥� the same as scientist Stephen Hawking,听
Researchers around the world have performed studies in effort to reveal concrete linkage between intelligence and mental illness.听that people with schizophrenia were more likely to have the version of one highly-studied gene, DARPP-32, which boosts performance on tasks involving thinking and filtering of information.
The prosecution must prove that, despite his above-average intellect, the shooter still knew that what he was doing was wrong in the eyes of society at the time of the murderous event.
On Wednesday, the court viewed the defendant鈥檚 behavior in the hours following his arrest in police video surveillance footage. In the video, the shooter responded appropriately and clearly to questions, and he provided the accurate names, phone number and home address of his parents. The gunman also told police that he had recently taken 100mg of Vicodin.
鈥淗ow long ago?鈥� an officer asked.
鈥淪even hours ago. Around 10 p.m.,鈥� the shooter said.
The gunman took the narcotic pain reliever two hours before the shootings, and hours after he听mailed a notebook filled with his detailed killing plans and philosophical writings to his former University of Colorado psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton.
Holmes named the psychiatrist his emergency contact and told police they could find her phone number 鈥渙n the internet鈥�.
Ultimately, the jury will have to decide if the defendant is legally sane, regardless of allegedly suffering from mental illness or having an above-average IQ.听
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Editor鈥檚 note: CU News Corps will honor the victims of this tragedy with every post via this graphic.听
