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    GinAndTonic Got Stuck in the BarneyJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:29pm

    I am relieved that he was found guilty, but I am, as always, completely against the death penalty.

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      LadyBerry83 (aka Santa Clausa)GinAndTonic Got Stuck in the Barney
      7/16/15 6:32pm

      I want him to die but first I want him to suffer in prison. Complete solitude. He doesn’t deserve any more comforts of life. He doesn’t deserve fresh air, sunshine, soul food, social interaction.

      Fuck this guilty bastard.

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      eggshelljonesGinAndTonic Got Stuck in the Barney
      7/16/15 6:34pm

      Same. The state shouldn’t be in the business of murdering its citizens. We have enough citizens murdering other citizens already, case in point.

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    Lilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)Jia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:32pm

    I live in Colorado, and I remember waking up the morning after this happened and hearing the news. Texts from my mom, getting on the computer and reading what happened... feeling like I needed to bear witness while the details rolled in. I remember being so scared that someone I knew had been there, checking with my friends who lived in the area and praying that none of them had gone to the theater that night. It was horrible.

    And I still don’t think he should get the death penalty, and I’m going to be really disappointed in my state if he does.

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      LadyBerry83 (aka Santa Clausa)Lilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)
      7/16/15 8:05pm

      Same. I live in CO and immediately got on cb to make sure none of my friends were there, because a few talked about going (but didn't).

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      Lilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)LadyBerry83 (aka Santa Clausa)
      7/16/15 8:11pm

      Some of my friends did go to a midnight showing, but thankfully it was a different theater.

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    EmilySpinachJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 7:12pm

    I’d like to ask a genuine question here, is everyone absolutely convinced that he was fully aware of what he was doing? From what I’ve read, he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was experiencing psychosis . It’s so clear to me that this is someone with a profound mental illness, it doesn’t negate from he did, AT ALL, but I don’t see how everyone can spew such vitriol at someone who has a clear history of mental illness . It’s heartbreaking all around, for the victims, their families but to think that if he’d received the treatment he needed, this may not have happened. Again, it does not make him any less guilty but I have to question whether he was in his right mind when this happened. I have first hand experience with schizophrenia and it’s honestly so painful to see the hatred towards someone who was in all likelihood experiencing a psychotic episode. I think overall, it’s a disease that is still not fully understood, so given his psychiatric history and his diagnosis, it just doesn’t seem justified to say that he was fully aware of what he was doing with so much certainty and conviction. I really, really hope he doesn’t get the death penalty, he needs psychiatric help. Again, I do not think he is innocent, I just think this should open up dialogue about the state of mental healthcare in our country and how the mentally ill are perceived and treated in the justice system.

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      lissargh: still grey on the slotEmilySpinach
      7/16/15 7:42pm

      I guess it depends on how long psychotic episodes typically last. Considering the amount of planning this took to gather weapons, devise a plan to get into the theater unnoticed, stock up on military grade riot gear, booby trap his apartment, and so on, he had to have been sitting on this for weeks if not months. Either way, if anything, I don't think this is a call for mental health to be better evaluated, because a vast majority of mentally ill people live their entire lives without ever murdering 12 people and injuring 70 more. If anything, I'd rather talk about how mentally ill people are suffering from the stigma that bringing up mental illness every time someone shoots a place up, be it a school, a theater, or a church inflicts on them.

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      OdetteOdileEmilySpinach
      7/16/15 7:55pm

      This is a complicated question. For what it’s worth, here’s my two cents as a current cognitive neuroscience PhD student and a former social worker with the severely mentally ill: from the description of his behavior in the linked Yahoo News article, particularly his idea of “value units” and his obsession with the “ultraception” symbol, it certainly is not outside the realm of possibility that he was actively psychotic at the time of the shooting; however, legally speaking, whether or not he was currently in a state of psychosis is irrelevant if it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the jury that he knew what he was doing was wrong. Again from the Yahoo article, there is video footage of Holmes stating that he knew what he did was “‘legally wrong’” and acknowledging that it was a crime, which certainly seems to indicate that he was not insane according to the legal definition—mentally ill, yes; “insane”, no. This is the gap that exists between the medical/psychiatric definition and the legal definition, and it’s an uncomfortable gray area. There is also a world of difference between a floridly psychotic person who commits murder because they honestly believe that they are acting in self-defense, and a floridly psychotic person who commits murder because they believe that they somehow absorb the potential of the people they kill.

      I absolutely agree with you 100% that mental health care in the U. S. is deplorable. It’s possible the Aurora theatre shooting could have been prevented by better access to psychiatric care, but I don’t know enough about Holmes’ background to know whether he honestly could not access psychiatric care, or had access to psychiatric care that he chose to ignore, or had access to psychiatric care and made use of that access and it still didn’t help. I will state up front that I am 100% against the death penalty, but I am conflicted about whether or not Holmes should remain in the correctional system or be sent to psychiatric care. The “value units” concept Holmes espouses implies that he is an individual whose psychosis causes him to be a danger to others, in which case even though he may be severely mentally ill, he absolutely must be prevented from doing anything like this ever again, and the sad reality is that many psychiatric facilities are unequipped to handle a long-term, potentially lifetime, inpatient with homicidal ideation—due to funding issues, bed shortages for people in need of psychiatric hospitalization are already an issue in many psychiatric facilities. As sad as it is, the privatization of the correctional “industry” (because like it or not, an industry is what it’s become) may mean that the correctional system is better prepared to handle his care, and it also means that there may be one more bed available for a patient experiencing an acute psychiatric crisis.

      I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer, just a lot of thoughts. This situation lies at the intersection of a number of societal problems to which the U. S. needs to attend, and at this point the roots of the problems are so deep I don’t have any idea where to start untangling them. The only thing of which I am certain is the obvious fact that this incident and its aftermath are unbelievably sad, and no matter the outcome, no one is going to “win”.

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    accordingtoJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 7:31pm

    That he chose a pg-13 movie “to avoid shooting children” indicates that he knew that what he was doing was wrong.

    And before we talk about the need to provide more funding for mental health services in this country (which we definitely do), I’d like to point out that this shooter was rich, white, male, and privileged. He was not relying on public services or Medicaid at all, he had all the access to mental health services that most people don’t. If they’d completely cut all funding to MHS providers, this guy still would have had treatment available.

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      pantaloonieaccordingto
      7/16/15 9:27pm

      I know this is going OT but people thinking that having commercial insurance rather than medicaid (in particular) is going to get someone better mental health treatment is untrue (at least in my state). Yes, with regular insurance you’ll get therapy and psychiatry too (max therapy every 2x wks and monthly medication visits), but the second you need something more, you’re out of luck. Need more than 72 hrs in hospital? Nope, never. Need respite (24hr staffed hospital diversion or step down)? Nope. Need a day program because you’re too sick to function, even if it’s only for a little while? Nope. Need weekly medication checks to make sure you’re taking them correctly or to monitor a change? Nope. Or therapy every week to avoid a crisis? Nope. Believe it or not medicaid is your best bet. I have been in situations where we have told well meaning parents to get their adult children off their insurance so they can actually get more intensive treatment. Mental health care as a whole in the US is woeful even with medicaid or unlimited wealth, but if you don’t have one of those, trying to manage a major mental illness would be pretty much impossible.

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      Travelgrrlaccordingto
      7/16/15 10:40pm

      After he ran out of college funded psych services because he dropped out of school, the shrink OFFERED TO SEE HIM FOR FREE. (Which he declined.)

      He had all the resources.

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    BrianDJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:47pm

    is his hair still orange or are people just using the same photo from back then

    like is he being given hair dye in prison

    whats going on here

    wheres the real scoop gawker

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      Lilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)BrianD
      7/16/15 6:52pm

      It’s the old photo. I’m pretty sure.

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      thenishacallBrianD
      7/16/15 7:18pm

      It’s an old one. He’s got a bouffant and a beard now.

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    thewiredknightJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:45pm

    I appreciate the article but I honestly just want to chime in that I find it inappropraite to shoehorn in a line on an unrelated matter at the bottom of the article. While I agree with the blacklivesmatter movement and have issues with the police treatment of them that issue has nothing to do with this case at hand.

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      Malcirethewiredknight
      7/16/15 8:07pm

      True. Also just from the stats some posted above, his race doesn’t effect death penalty as much as his victims race did. He killed a bunch of white people so statistically speaking he is much more likely to get the death penalty than say a black person (or a white one) who killed another black person.

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    ellehcorlivesJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:34pm

    Really upsetting that you guy’s aren’t practicing responsible journalism by publishing this murderer’s name. You can factually report without using his name. #nonotoriety

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      Lilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)ellehcorlives
      7/16/15 6:36pm

      ...Are you being serious? Everyone knows his name. We’ve known his name for three years, you say “James Holmes” and people are like “oh yeah, the aurora theater shooter”.
      I really hope you’re not being serious.

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      Amy HousewineLilly (Hungry hungry hipster!)
      7/16/15 6:42pm

      She’s absolutely serious. A number of people who study mass murders say that the more infamy is generated, the more the act appeals to other sociopaths, whereas anonymity, being the opposite of what these people want, minimizes the risk of copycats.

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    adultosaur married anna on the astral planeJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 7:29pm

    But Mental Illness Though.

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      Malcireadultosaur married anna on the astral plane
      7/16/15 8:03pm

      He can be mentally ill and not insane. It could even have effected his decisions and he can still be culpable as long as he knew what he did was wrong he is still at fault. Which is essentially what the prosecution argued.

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      adultosaur married anna on the astral planeMalcire
      7/17/15 12:15pm

      that was the joke.

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    GELLA - LLAPJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:36pm

    there wasn’t any questions that he is guilty

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      Apricot Poodle Riding Eeyore Across a RainbowGELLA - LLAP
      7/16/15 6:41pm

      Psst, from the article:

      “They weren’t deliberating on Holmes’s guilt; the 27-year-old has confessed his responsibility for the massacre, which took place at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight on July 20, 2012—almost three years ago to the day. Holmes walked in through an exit door wearing contemporary armor—a ballistic helmet, bullet-resistant leggings; some thought he was in costume for the movie—and threw a smoke bomb, then started firing: 76 shots in total, 65 of them from a semi-automatic. They were debating on whether or not he could be held responsible for those actions.”

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      TravelgrrlGELLA - LLAP
      7/16/15 10:44pm

      The court case was to determine if he was mentally ill enough to not be responsible, not his guilt or innocence.

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    SpringSprungJia Tolentino
    7/16/15 6:34pm

    I always wonder when they say, “so-and-so showed no emotion when the verdict was read...” He killed 12 people and wounded 70. I don’t think this is a person who’s going to break down and beg for forgiveness.

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      TzaSpringSprung
      7/16/15 8:02pm

      It’s almost a standard by this point. A few break down, but generally it’s no emotion.

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