Jury Keeps Death Penalty Option for Aurora Gunman

1	A jury voted on Monday to keep the death penalty as an option for James Holmes, the gunman who killed 12 people at a screening of a Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, three years ago.
2	The sentencing phase now proceeds to the final phase, when jurors will decide between death and a sentence of life in prison.
3	Jurors had the option of ruling out the death penalty after hearing last week from defense witnesses ? including Holmes' parents, who in emotional testimony asked the jury to spare his life because he is mentally ill.
4	His father, Robert Holmes, said that he and his wife had no idea before the massacre that their eldest child was mentally ill or wanted to kill.
5	He said he still loved his son.
6	Asked by a defense lawyer why, Holmes responded, "Well, he's my son and, you know, we always got along pretty well and he was actually an excellent kid."
7	Other witnesses described James Holmes as a happy, friendly child.
8	The defense also called a court-appointed psychiatrist who said that severe mental illness, not hatred or a desire for notoriety, drove Holmes to kill.
9	The same jury rejected an insanity defense and convicted Holmes of murdering 12 people and trying to kill 70 more in the attack, at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in July 2012.