A gunman who opened fire in a Colorado cinema killing 12 people has been found guilty of murder.
Jurors began deliberating on Wednesday on whether James Holmes was sane when he opened fire on a packed cinema showing the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises on 20 July 2012.
James Holmes in court in Colorado in July 2012. Photo: AFP
The shooting at a crowded midnight screening in Aurora, just outside Denver, also injured 70 people.
The 27-year-old was found guilty of multiple counts of first degree murder and attempted murder.
During the three month trial, the defence had argued that the former neuroscience graduate suffered from schizophrenia and was insane at the time.
But jurors rejected that, clearing the way for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
Holmes showed no reaction as the lengthy verdict was read at Arapahoe County District Court. The gunman stood beside his court-appointed attorneys, looking straight ahead with his hands in his pockets.
The jury must now determine whether Holmes should be put to death or serve a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole.
Sobs filled the courtroom during the trial as dozens of wounded survivors testified about hiding behind plastic chairs from the hail of bullets, and stumbling over the bodies of loved ones as they fled the theatre.
The Century Cinema in Aurora. Photo: afp / Chris Melzer / dpa
'Hatred of humanity'
District Attorney George Brauchler said the gunman was unusually intelligent but socially inept, and harboured a long-standing hatred of humanity.
He said Holmes could not take it when he did poorly on exams at the University of Colorado, and broke up with the only girlfriend he had ever been intimate with.
The prosecution argued that Holmes' detailed preparations for the attack showed he knew what he was doing, and knew it was wrong.
They presented evidence about his purchases of guns, tear gas and body armour. They also showed how he conducted online research into bomb-making so he could booby-trap his apartment before he left for the cinema.
Holmes rigged the bombs and turned loud music on the stereo, hoping someone would open the door and trigger a deadly blast. The devices were later defused by a police bomb squad.
When he went to Aurora's Century 16 multiplex, Holmes was dressed head to toe in a gas mask, helmet and body armour. He lobbed a teargas canister into the screening, then opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle, pump action shotgun and pistol.
He was listening to loud techno music on headphones at the time, "to block out the screams," the prosecution had said.
Days after the rampage, the defendant first appeared in the same small, windowless courtroom in Centennial, another Denver suburb. At that time, he looked wide-eyed and disoriented, and with his hair dyed red. He has put on weight since then, and his hair has returned to its natural brown colour.
- BBC / AFP / Reuters