Prosecution carefully avoids calling Holmes by name in theater shooting jury selectionFOX31DENVER
BY WILL C. HOLDEN | FEBRUARY 18, 2015CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Would you be capable of sentencing that man to death?
It’s a question the prosecution in the Aurora theater shooting trial has posed to each prospective juror through five days of individual questioning as the court works to whittle a jury pool of 9,000 down to 24. It’s a question that always draws an objection from the defense team for James Holmes, the admitted gunman in the July 2012 shooting that left 12 dead and 70 others wounded.
Those objections from the defense are always overruled by Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour.
To be clear, the defense has logged multiple objections to the question. On Tuesday, one of those objections was to Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler calling Holmes “that man in the corner.”
Defense attorney Kathryn Spangler insisted that the “in the corner” reference implied wrongdoing. Not only that, she said, but since the court has been shackling Holmes to the floor during court proceedings, there is no other place for him to sit aside from in the corner.
Brauchler insisted his usage of “in the corner” carried no deeper meaning, and Samour agreed, saying he didn’t see the reference as vindictive. Nonetheless, Brauchler agreed to refrain from using it in the future, and instead referred to Holmes as “that man in the sweater with glasses, a mustache and a beard” on Wednesday.
Though the reference was somewhat comical in its detail, it remained in line with a successful and perhaps strategic effort from the prosecution to avoid mentioning Holmes by name in this trial. It’s an effort that would seem to be lauded by many victims in this case, as well as by Dr. Park Dietz, a noted psychiatrist whose extensive research on the perpetrators of mass atrocities has led him to believe that depriving them of notoriety could serve to prevent future atrocities.
Dietz’s public comments on the matter are often cited in the “Don’t Name Them” campaign. Its supporters are active in promoting the corresponding hashtag on social media and urging — sometimes even badgering — journalists to refrain from mentioning Holmes by name when reporting on this case.
But it wouldn't be fair to say the defense’s objection to the aforementioned question centers solely on the prosecution’s references to their client. The defense insists it is a “stakeout question,” the legal definition of which has been defined, among other places, in the 1998 case of the State of North Carolina v. Early Richmond Jr. Richmond was ultimately convicted of killing four people, sentenced to death and executed.
“Stakeout questions,” the court reasoned in the Richmond case, “seek to cause prospective jurors to pledge themselves to a future course of action and indoctrinate (them) regarding potential issues before the evidence has been presented and (they) have been instructed on the law.”
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