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Judge limits defense's death penalty evidence in theater shooting case

The defense in the Aurora movie theater murder case won't be able to present evidence at trial about the history of the death penalty or about how the gunman's possible execution would impact his family, a judge ruled Thursday.

In 2 orders, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour said neither type of evidence would be relevant to jurors deciding whether to sentence gunman James Holmes to death. Instead, Samour ruled that jurors should be given a "succinct and clear instruction" about the current laws regarding sentences to death or life in prison without parole.

Samour also concluded that, while defendants are allowed to present mitigating evidence during a death-penalty trial, only information about the accused's character and history and about the circumstances of the crime are valid for the jury to consider.

"Because neither the love that family members, friends, and others may feel about the defendant nor the impact his execution may have on them is relevant mitigating evidence, it is inadmissible," Samour wrote in one of the orders.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Holmes if he is convicted of murder in the attack on the Century Aurora 16 movie theater in July 2012. Defense attorneys have admitted that Holmes shot 12 people to death during the attack and wounded many others, but they say he was in the throes of a psychotic episode.

The trial in the case is currently on hold while prosecutors fight for a 2nd court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Holmes. Prosecutors have accused the doctor who performed the first evaluation of being biased.

Source: The Denver Post, January 24, 2014
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