Experts weigh in: Boulder jury to decide fate in King Soopers trial
BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) – A jury is in the process of deciding the fate of the 2021 gunman in the King Soopers mass shooting .
FOX31 spoke to George Brauchler, a former Colorado prosecutor who tried the murder case against the Aurora theater shooter , about the biggest question jurors will have to answer as deliberations resume Monday morning.
Timeline: From 2021 Boulder King Soopers mass shooting to trial
Just like the King Soopers, trial the Aurora theatre shooter also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity
"This one has some similarities. Those similarities are that the guy seemed to be going through some changes but nothing stark. Nothing that got the attention of the people close to him or who loved him. Both of these mass murderers were able to plan for a considerable period of time what they wanted to do. What they wanted to pull off. They were able to get their hands lawfully on the killing implements that they ended up using to kill all these people," Brauchler said.
Brauchler said that jurors will have to decide if the shooter knew what he was doing on the day of the shooting.
"I don't expect this to be an incredibly complicated case. As long as there isn't one or two or maybe a handful of jurors who are truly perplexed by whether this guy knew right from wrong," Brauchler said. "Keep in mind, no mental health expert ever said that. No one ever said he was insane or couldn't tell right or wrong. So unless there's a couple jurors who'll get hung up on it my expectation is they'll go back. They'll move quickly on whether or not there were murders. There were. Whether or not the shooter could form the intent to murder after deliberating, his own team said that he could, and will really drill down on the right or wrong piece and try to access all the evidence from that standpoint."
In the state of Colorado, there are two prongs the prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in addition to the murders, according to Brauchler.
Jurors begin deliberations in trial of man who killed 10 people at Colorado supermarket
The first is that the person could form the intent to murder after deliberating on it. The second is that they knew right from wrong when they did it.
He said there are three possibilities in this trial. The gunman could be acquitted, a hung jury or, what he believes the most likely outcome will be, a conviction.
"Of course, the outcome that I think is the most likely is that these jurors will return, deliberate and unanimously determine that this guy is guilty beyond reasonable doubt," Brauchler said. "He'll move on to sentencing. I presume he'll get ten consecutive life sentences plus, I haven't done the math, thousands of years in the Department of Corrections.
The jury members received the case around 3 p.m. Friday and began their deliberations. They are set to resume on Monday at 9 a.m.
