Case in the Jury's Hands
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DA George Brauchler winds up his closing statements Tuesday
There are nine women and three men. What that means in terms of how genders tend to think is blown out of the water when you read how strong these women are.
Seat 1
#640听is a female plumber with a son in the Marines and a daughter in the Army. Son bi-polar. She is 40s, white and wears Harley Davidson clothing to the courtroom a lot. Also a bandana. Rarely shows emotion.
Seat 2
#17听is a female lawyer. White. She is the caregiver to both of her parents. Middle aged/40s. She says the death penalty should be rare.
Has been very quiet throughout trial.
Seat 3
#29听is female. White. Used to be a victim advocate in Aurora, but before the shooting. Was the victim of a burglary. Noted during jury selection she would look at the nature of each crime. And that James Holmes should be held accountable.
Seat #5
#535听is yet another white woman. She had back problems during trial and ended up holding on to the walls to keep her suffering at a minimum and ended up using a cane. In her 40s. Her niece was in the cafeteria at Columbine the day of the shootings. Was married to a cop and was hospitalized with depression as a danger to herself after divorce.
She would not have a problem with any backlash from the community should she find Mr.Holmes insane.
Seat 6
#87 White female. Biology major. Son has a drug problem. Has had bouts of depression. Very detail oriented. Very intelligent.
If a person is presumed innocent it should be up to the prosecution to prove otherwise.
Seat 11
#118 White Female. Sandy blonde hair. She is a firearms expert, works with explosives and even called the jury selection to a halt to have conference about this. She just wanted to let the attorneys know of her background. The judge told her that her background could help. 鈥淚t鈥檚 okay to rely on your expertise to help you make decisions.鈥� Husband is a nationally ranked shooter. Son is an Iraqi vet and son-in-law has PTSD. Has been very attentive in court. Quiet.
Seat 13
#378听You guessed it! White female. Late middle-aged. Former paramedic who often transported mentally ill people. Now is an auto parts delivery person. Not against the death penalty. She was called out during trial because a bailiff said she was sleeping. This was during some of the most tedious testimony about bullet wounds in theater seats. She said she was just resting her eyes, and they kept her on. From then on she paid very close attention.
Seat 14
And the string of white females is broken with听#155, who is a white male in his 50s. Knew interpreter witness who is a pastor at the church he attends, but the attorneys kept him on the jury anyway. He was in California at time of shooting and during voir dire didn鈥檛 know all of the facts, (not even how many were killed).
Takes mental illness very seriously. Paid very close attention during trial, often with his arms folded. Some of the prosecutors had bets he would be foreman, but no word on that.
Seat 15
#527听White male. Bed Bath and Beyond manager. He also had a problem with knowing one of the witnesses. #527 is in a fantasy football league and is Facebook friends with the sales manager of the Gander Mountain Aurora store where the defendant bought the 12-gauge shotgun, Aurora can be a very small town, it seems鈥� Juror #527 convinced the court that he can be impartial about this witness. By the way, during voir dire #527 noted that he can be fair and impartial. He rarely showed emotion during trial.
Seat 17
#737听Foreman 鈥� Mid-30s white male who is perhaps the most surprising juror member to be chosen because he has more-than-close connections with Colorado鈥檚 other well-known mass shooting 鈥擟olumbine. Legal experts say #737 is a wild card for both sides, I鈥檓 told by attorney-types. He was close to Columbine killers until eighth grade.听They fell out of favor with each other.
He took a shooting victim to prom a week before she was killed at the school. 听He said these experiences would make him more capable as a juror. During trial has been very attentive always watching the attorney and the witness.
Seat 21
#557听Female and may be Hispanic, which would make her the only minority on the jury. Late middle-aged. Said during voir dire that this is a huge case and very overwhelming for her. Says he has an opinionated husband whom she has to tune out. Says each charge is a name and a person, and considers Mr. Holmes a human being. She said 鈥淚t鈥檚 scary. It won鈥檛 be easy on easy on us.鈥�
Seat 23
#311听is a female in her mid-50s. She has said during jury selection that she wants to hear from Holmes鈥� parents. She has been able to see them, as they are in the front row sitting right behind their son. #311鈥瞫 seat has been in the front row of the jury box. During trial, she appeared to be connecting from the prosecution, often laughing with the DA鈥檚 jokes and scowling at the defense attorneys for this or that.