Trial of the Joker: The Beginning

The logistics of putting James Holmes on trial are as staggering as the carnage he allegedly committed in a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in July 2012 when 12 people were killed and 58 others injured in gunfire. Consider this: some 9,000 potential jurors are being summoned, and the jury selection that began yesterday could last until May or June when the trial would finally start. Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. told the first pool of potential jurors that if chosen for the jury, they cannot read, watch, or hear anything about the case. "This will require great effort on your part," the judge said three times. Also in the courtroom was Holmes, whose face remained expressionless. He faced forward toward the judge's bench the entire time without looking around or at the potential jurors in the room. Holmes, who colored his hair red and told police he was "The Joker" upon arrest after the mass killing, is now a different picture. In court, he had a clean haircut, trimmed beard, eyeglasses, gray sport coat, tan slacks, and blue-and-white-striped dress shirt. In all, Arapahoe County residents stand a 1-in-50 chance of receiving a summons. The enormous pool of potential jurors, designed to ensure a fair trial for Holmes, is being called one of the largest in U.S. history. The court is casting such a wide net for jurors that it has unwittingly summoned 12 potential witnesses in the case, but Judge Samour has already excused those individuals from the jury summonses. With the removal of those witnesses from the jury pool, the number of potential witnesses receiving a summons could now be as high as 43, though prosecutors acknowledged in court papers "that it is likely two individuals could have the same names and not be the same person as the endorsed prosecution witnesses in this case." But the potential conflicts don't end there. Four potential jurors are related to the prosecutor's staff: two husbands, a father, and an uncle. Another potential juror is a best friend of a prosecution staff member. A wife and a former colleague of prosecution witnesses are also potential jurors. But the judge declined immediately to excuse those seven potential jurors. "Because neither party asks the court to take any action with respect to these individuals, the court refrains from doing so at this time," the judge said. Let's hope that the right twelve are picked and that justice is eventually served on that loser.