Colorado Movie Theater Shooter Ordered to Pay Nearly $1M in Restitution
A judge Friday ordered Colorado theater shooter James Holmes to pay about $955,000 in restitution to the victims of his 2012 movie theater shooting – money the imprisoned mass killer likely will never pay.
District Court Judge Carlos A. Samour, who presided over Holmes’ monthslong trial, said there is no question many people “endured, and continue to endure, undue suffering and hardship” because of the attack.
“Nothing can ever make the victims whole for the harms suffered at the hands of the defendant,” Samour wrote in his order. He added Holmes is under a moral and legal obligation to make full restitution to his victims.
Still, the former graduate student has no income and no assets to speak of, so it’s unlikely the victims will receive their money.
Holmes murdered 12 people and injured 70 during a midnight showing of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
In August, Samour sentenced him to 12 consecutive life terms without parole plus 3,318 years.
The judgment ordered $851,000 of the restitution to be sent to the state victim compensation fund, and another $103,000 to be paid directly to the victims.
That’s the full amount prosecutors requested. They argued the money would pay for victims’ psychiatric care, medical equipment, lost wages and other needs as a result of the mass shooting.
Victims said they must pay for prosthetic limbs, occupational and speech therapy, future medical care and travel expenses for attending the four-month trial.
Holmes did not request a hearing on the restitution claims, as was his right.
Colorado’s public defender office, which represented Holmes, did not immediately return a call for comment Friday. Holmes is being held alone in a cell in a southern Colorado prison, where he is more closely monitored and has fewer privileges than other inmates.
Holmes’ parents declined to comment Friday. Parents and relatives generally are not liable for restitution for crimes committed by adult children.