Judge ousts three jurors in trial of accused theater shooter James Holmes
The judge overseeing the trial of accused movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes ousted three jurors from the case on Tuesday.
Judge Carlos Samour Jr. found that one juror, No. 872, had seen news reports about the case and gave details to other jurors, despite entreaties not to do so, the Denver Post reports. The two other jurors, Samour found, may not have been totally honest about what they heard.
The trial came to a halt after another juror, No. 673, told Samour that juror No. 872 mentioned a story on an unsuccessful mistrial motion about a week ago, and more recently discussed a tweet by the Arapahoe County district attorney. The juror said two other jurors likely heard the comments by juror No. 872.
When questioned by the judge, juror No. 872 said she took a call on speaker phone from her husband during a court break and he began discussing the DA’s tweet. “That idiot’s tweeting,” the husband supposedly told the juror. At that point, the juror said, she cut off the conversation.
After the questioning, Samour said he didn’t think juror No. 872 was telling the whole story, since the complaining juror gave more details of the news articles.
Twenty-one jurors remain, including nine alternates.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a Batman movie in 2012.
