aurora theater trial

Reporter by trade, human by nature

Anonymous — Mon, 18 May 2015 19:19:57 +0000

Reporter by trade, human by nature Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2015 - 13:19 Lo Snelgrove

COMMENTARY - The very people that the Aurora theater shooter maimed sit just a stone’s throw away from him describing in as much detail as allowed the events of that day, the bodily wounds suffered and the long-term, physical disabilities or pain.

Gunshot victims have told about and/or shown the jury permanent nerve damage, the inability to walk without limping, amputated fingers; one young man had a part of his lower intestine removed and now has to adjust his diet and eating habits. Caleb Medley, who was an aspiring comedian, now sits in a wheel chair without ability to speak coherently or to stand on his own. Ashley Moser lost her child, her unborn child, and she now sits in a wheelchair, paraplegic.

Some witness testimonies have unharnessed visible emotion and caused a riptide of tear shed in the courtroom. Other victims have sat on the stand and calmly reported their injuries and the details of the shooting, as they themselves recall them. Today, when Kelly Bowen took the stand, she reminded everyone of the long-lasting psychological injury that many people continue to live with.

She trembled. She spoke softly, closing her eyes for prolonged periods of time. Her chest visibly rose and fell with each inhale and exhale of air, as if the oxygen was thinning in the room. She avoided looking to her right at all costs, where the shooter sat just 12 feet away.

Bowen was not physically injured the night of the shooting. She described seeing the shooter in the theater and running for her life at the sound of gunfire and screaming. She described tripping on the scattered trail of shoes left behind along the staircase while she tried to make her escape. She told the court about seeing a dead body slung over a trashcan at the top of the stair’s landing, among other bloodied bodies strewn about.

Bowen was picked up and thrown into a row of theater seats while she was running toward the exit door at the top of the theater’s stadium seating. Once she got home, she examined herself for injury. She was covered in blood. None of it was her own.

Bowen recalled having two bloody handprints on her clothing, and she assumed it was “from the person who threw (her) into the seats”.

When asked to described the shooter’s movements and behavior, she used the words, “searching” and “intent”. The defense objected on the grounds of speculation. The judge reminded Bowen three times to recall only her visual observations without inference.

Bowen choked up. She seemed to get angry and raised her voice slightly at one point when forced to find another way to describe the shooter’s actions. To her, in her mind, in her memory, the man in all black that caused a movie theater to look like a war scene DID walk with intent, and he did seem to be searching for targets to take out. It may be speculation and inappropriate for court, but these are the words that describe Bowen’s experience in the way she knows it and it describes the vivid memories that have stayed with her for the last three years.

We often talk about the physically injured. We acknowledge the deceased. We haven’t accounted for, to quite the same extent, the vast psychological injuries caused on the early morning of July 20, 2012.

There were about 140 seats in the theater that was gunned down, and the neighboring theater wall was penetrated by bullets, causing further injury to people next door. Add in the responding police officers, fire fighters, EMTs, ambulance drivers, FBI and CSI agents, S.W.A.T. team members, hospital staff, the friends and family of every person in the theater that night…. I dare not keep count of the people who saw and/or were affected by what one 20-year veteran police officer described as “horrendous” and “a nightmare”.

If you want to spark change in a society, get inside of the minds of many.

The Aurora theater shooter has gotten into perhaps thousands of people’s minds, leaving me wondering how we can counteract the violence and fear that one single man inserted into the lives of so many. At minimum he’s perpetuated an increasing trend of mass shootings in America and inflicted tragedy on the lives of hundreds of people.

Individuals may take action to heal themselves, but how do we heal a collective; how do we begin to approach a plan to prevent more mass shootings? How can we measure the widespread, visible and invisible impact of such a horrendous event, and can we negate the damage done?

I’m a reporter by trade, but a human by nature. It seems impossible to mute all my emotional reactivity to the constantly unfolding story of the Aurora theater shooting. It seems ignorant to stifle the stirring inside me to desire social change in an effort to prevent events like this in the future.

Some days are much harder than others from the courtroom gallery.

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Day 8 of Aurora theater shooting trial features mountains of evidence

Anonymous — Thu, 07 May 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Day 8 of Aurora theater shooting trial features mountains of evidence Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/07/2015 - 00:00 Kelsey Ragan

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — In an effort to demonstrate the forethought that went into the murderous rampage at Aurora’s Century 16 theater in July 2012, the prosecution in the theater shooting trial Thursday steered the courtroom away from personal testimony, at least in the morning session, and called FBI agents to testify.

The evidence was collected on July 20, 2012, following the mass shooting at the midnight premier of “The Dark Knight Rises,” where 12 people were killed and 70 injured. Defendant James Holmes’ attorneys are trying to prove that Holmes should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Day eight of the trial started off nearly as sleepy as the rainy weather Thursday, as the prosecution led with admission of physical evidence. The jury was attentive but muted.

By 11:45 a.m., a mountain of evidence was heaped upon a table. There were more than 100 admissions.

At 11:50 a.m., the jury was permitted to examine the admitted evidence. For 20 minutes jurors handled various pieces of tactical equipment —including a glove, a helmet, chaps and vest—a model 22 and a model 23 GLOCK, a rifle case and several magazines.

Jurors’ faces pulled into frowns as they grasped the materials.

The sheer volume of evidence overwhelmed the court staff as they passed it to and collected it back from the jurors.

Arlene Holmes, the defendant’s mother, took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

On day eight, Robert and Arlene Holmes showed more affection toward each other. Mr. Holmes put his arm around Mrs. Holmes and helped her put back on her soft yellow jacket. Both fidgeted in their chairs and looked worried as they scanned the jury for a reaction to the evidence.

The defendant continued to pivot side-to-side in his chair, not showing any physical reaction to the evidence displayed on screen or on the witness stand.

First on the stand was Toni Payne, an intelligence analyst and member of the FBI’s evidence response team since 2005. She photographed the scene at Century 16 the morning of July 20, 2012.

One piece of evidence on display was a close up photograph of a rifle, a pool of blood and a pair of bright pink flip-flops.

Following Payne’s testimony, the defense asked questions to clarify what had been found, an unusual move thus far.

The defense brought attention to a frontal photograph of the defendant’s car. They clarified that no effort had been made to disguise the license plate. They also asked Payne if she found any camping gear, like a sleeping bag or tent, in the car. Payne said no.

The defense will likely use the lack of evidence for a prepared getaway to demonstrate a disconnected understanding of the consequences.

Daniel King, the defendant’s attorney, cross-examined several witnesses. A pattern emerged when he followed up with questions that suggested witnesses did not have enough interaction to gauge the defendant’s mental state.

Thursday also featured more testimony from survivors, a tactic the prosecution will continue to use in these early weeks of the trial.

Survivor Amanda Teves took the stand Thursday.

Her boyfriend, Alex Teves wanted to see the new Batman movie. She knew that he wouldn’t want to be affectionate with her during the movie, she said.

“I asked him for one last kiss,” Teves said.

“Did you get it?” the prosecution asked.

“Yeah,” Teves said, her voice cracked. She did not see Alex Teves alive again. She took his name after his death. Now she carries it, always.

Holmes’ father stirred in his chair. Alex Teves had just graduated with his master’s in counseling psychology from the University of Denver. Teves had just the kind of bright future Holmes missed.

As the second week of trial continues, most of the media presence has cleared out on the left side of the courtroom. The right side, reserved for victims and family members, continued to shrink.

Editor’s Note: CU News Corps will remember the victims of the tragedy with every post via this graphic.

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