MENTAL ILLNESS: Parents of Accused Colorado Shooter Plead for Mercy

The par­ents of James Holmes recent­ly explained that their son is severe­ly men­tal­ly ill and asked he be spared the death penal­ty. Holmes is accused of killing numer­ous peo­ple at a movie the­ater in Aurora, Colorado. Robert and Arlene Holmes said they were aware of the great harm their son caused, not­ing, ​“We are always pray­ing for every­one in Aurora. We wish that July 20, 2012, nev­er hap­pened.” They also rec­og­nized the sen­ti­ments among some that their son be exe­cut­ed: ​“We have read post­ings on the Internet that have likened him to a mon­ster. He is not a mon­ster. He is a human being gripped by a severe men­tal ill­ness.” They hoped he would either be allowed to plead guilty and receive a life with­out parole sen­tence, or be found not guilty by rea­son of insan­i­ty, so ​“he could go to an insti­tu­tion that pro­vides treat­ment for the men­tal­ly ill for the remain­der of his life.”

Holmes’s tri­al is expect­ed to begin in January, 2015.

(R. and A. Holmes, ​“James Holmes’ par­ents: Our son is men­tal­ly ill;” J. Ingold, ​“James Holmes’ par­ents plead for him to be spared from death penal­ty,” Denver Post, December 19, 2014). See Mental Illness and New Voices.