Victims' families consulted on US gunman death penalty
US: Prosecutors said Monday they would formally charge Colorado
cinema shooting suspect James Holmes next week, but will consult with
victims' families on whether to seek the death penalty.
Arapahoe county district attorney Carol Chambers, speaking shortly
after the 24-year-old's first appearance in court, said the charges
could include first degree murder but would not normally include
terrorism.
She said that the decision whether or not to seek the death penalty
had to involve victims' families. The first charges will be filed in
court next Monday, but amended charges could be laid at later dates.
"That's a very long process that impacts their lives for years ..so
we will want to get their input before we make any decision on that,"
she said of the death penalty decision. Holmes is accused of shooting
dead 12 people and wounding 58 others at a cinema Friday in Aurora,
outside Denver, as young moviegoers packed the midnight screening of the
latest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises."
AFP
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