Three years after the tragic shooting at the "Dark Knight Rises" premiere in Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes was found guilty on all charges: 24 counts of first-degree murder as well as 116 counts of attempted murder. Many people cannot comprehend a so-called “sane” person committing such acts and subsequently label the perpetrator as insane. But insanity, especially in the legal sense, is much more complex than that—and the fact that Holmes was found to be not criminally insane is the reason he was found guilty.
In the United States, a court deciding that a defendant is legally insane prevents said defendant from being criminally punished for his action—the logic being that if he fails to meet the requirements for sanity and therefore doesn’t understand the crime or can’t stop himself from committing it, he cannot be guilty and sent to prison or to death. Instead, a defendant who is determined to be not criminally responsible by reason of insanity is most often sent to a state mental institution, often for life.
The legal definition for insanity is determined by each state. Holmes’ case was tried in Colorado, which uses a two-pronged test with requirements of both cognition and volition: The M’Naughten Rule and the Irresistible Impulse Provision, respectively. In practical terms, this dual test requires that the defendant be both unable to understand the criminality of his actions and unable to stop himself from committing said actions.
The trial was complex and lengthy, with over 250 witnesses and 20 separate doctors called to determine whether or not Holmes suffers from mental illness. The doctors’ consensus stated that Holmes suffers from schizophrenia, but that alone is not enough to determine him legally insane.
Both the prosecution and the defense each brought forth exorbitant amounts of evidence, but the jury ruled in favor of the prosecution. Some of the most influential pieces of the prosecution’s evidence were a conversation Holmes had with a friend and an FBI agent’s count of Holmes’ elaborate traps set up in his apartment for the day of the mass shooting. In the former, Holmes said that he knew killing people was evil and that killing people could result in getting caught, forcing him to “lose the rest of [his] life.” These statements were so poignant because they demonstrated Holmes’ understanding of the criminality of murder and the legal consequences of being caught. The FBI agent’s testimony provided another insight into the premeditated nature of Holmes’ actions. On the day of the shooting, Holmes created extensive distractions and booby traps. Holmes covered the floor of his apartment with gasoline and oil after setting up a mechanism where when a wire is pulled, chemicals would spill on the floor, and the chemical reaction would cause a fire. Moreover, Holmes sprinkled magnesium all over the floor—magnesium fires intensify with water, so if a person tried to put out the fire, it would only worsen. These two examples are only snippets of the large body of evidence from which the jury determined Holmes’ guilt.
The case moves into the sentencing portion of the trial on Monday, July 20, exactly three years after the shooting took place. In this part of the trial, the jury will have to determine whether to sentence Holmes to life in prison or the death penalty. Although high-profile cases like Holmes’ often create a public outcry for the perpetrator to be sentenced to death, Holmes’ mental state may cause complications if that is how the jury decides to sentence him. Although found to not be legally insane, a separate legal requirement of a criminal’s mental state for being sentenced to death exists called competency to be executed.
Holmes' actions were indisputably horrifying, but calling him "insane" without careful consideration of the facts and outcomes of the case often result in mislabeling, undercutting the very meaning and application of the word in the legal realm. Only time will tell what is to become of Holmes' fate, but the case's outcome of guilt unquestionably brings closure and relief to the victims' families and friends.
