Theatre shooting trial jury selection enters final stage

Jury selection in the Colorado theatre shooting case has entered its final stage with attorneys questioning prospective jurors as a large group.

Prosecutors and defence attorneys will whittle 115 remaining candidates down to 12 jurors and 12 alternates to serve in the months-long trial of James Holmes. Opening statements are scheduled for April 27.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 others in the July 20, 2012, attack on a Denver-area movie theatre. His defence attorneys do not dispute that he pulled the trigger but say he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he slipped into the theatre and opened fire while dressed from head to toe in combat gear.

Prosecutors say Holmes was sane and will ask jurors to convict him and sentence him to death. Judge Carlos Samour has scheduled two days for group questioning.

Jury selection in the case began on January 20, and experts say it was among largest and most complicated in US history. Court officials initially summoned 9,000 prospective jurors, who spent weeks filling out lengthy written questionnaires.

Hundreds of people were asked to return for one- on-one questioning

about the rule of law or how prospective jurors gauge the credibility of witnesses who testify.