James Holmes, the man responsible for killing 12 and injuring 70 people after opening fire in a movie theater during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 in Aurora, Colo., has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The 27-year-old was found guilty on 166 counts, including attempted murder and weapons charges. Holmes’ attorneys argued that life in prison was an appropriate sentence for Holmes, claiming the shooting was a result of a psychotic breakdown suffered by a mentally ill man.
The jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision regarding the death sentence and life in prison. The court sentenced Holmes to life without parole.
Ashley Moser, the mother of 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, Holmes’ youngest victim, testified on Thursday. She told the jury and District Attorney George Brauchler that she missed “everything” about her daughter, including “her smile, her laugh, the way she was my little silly-billy.”
“She personified a little angel,” her grandfather Robert Sullivan added. “There was only six years there, but we could see the seeds of great potential. She was a sweetheart.”
Holmes was found guilty on 24 counts of murder last month.
Since the 2012 incident, separate shootings have occurred during a showing of Trainwreck in Lafayette, La., last month and most recently during Mad Max: Fury Road in Tennessee on Aug. 5.
