Jury convicts Colorado theater shooter of murder

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Jurors convicted Colorado theater shooter James Holmes on Thursday in the 2012 attack on defenseless moviegoers at a midnight Batman premiere, rejecting defense arguments the former graduate student was insane and driven to murder by delusions.

The 27-year-old Holmes, who had been working toward his Ph.D. in neuroscience, could get the death penalty for the massacre that left 12 people dead and dozens of others wounded.

Jurors took about 12 hours over a day and a half to review all 165 charges.

The same panel must decide whether Holmes should pay with his life.

Holmes stood impassively as Judge Carlos Samour Jr. read charge after charge, each one punctuated by the word "guilty."

The verdict came almost three years after Holmes, dressed head to toe in body armor, slipped through the emergency exit of the darkened theater in suburban Denver and replaced the Hollywood violence of the movie "The Dark Knight Rises" with real human carnage.

His victims included two active-duty servicemen, a single mother, a man celebrating his 27th birthday and an aspiring broadcaster who had survived a mall shooting in Toronto.

Several died shielding friends or loved ones.

The trial offered a rare glimpse into the mind of a mass shooter, as most are killed by police, kill themselves or plead guilty.