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| Aurora suspect James Holmes should be executed, say prosecutors | Aurora suspect James Holmes should be executed, say prosecutors |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing 12 people last July at a cinema in the US state of Colorado. | Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing 12 people last July at a cinema in the US state of Colorado. |
| On Friday, prosecutors rejected an offer from James Holmes to plead guilty in order to avoid execution. | |
| The 25-year-old is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the attack in Aurora, one of the worst mass shootings in US history. | |
| Dozens were wounded in the attack at a midnight showing of a Batman film. | Dozens were wounded in the attack at a midnight showing of a Batman film. |
| "It's my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death," Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said at Monday's hearing, which the accused attended. | |
| Mr Holmes' parents sat holding hands in the public gallery. | |
| 'Dragged along' | |
| Victims and their families said they did not welcome the thought of a lengthy trial. | |
| Pierce O'Farrill, who was shot three times in the attack, told the Associated Press: "All of us victims would be dragged along potentially for years. It could be 10 or 15 years before he's executed. | |
| "I would be in my 40s and I'm planning to have a family, and the thought of having to look back and reliving everything at that point in my life, it would be difficult." | |
| Last week, prosecutors argued that the defence motion for a guilty plea was not valid as a plea deal, but correspondents say such an agreement could still be reached before the case goes to trial. | |
| Mr Holmes' defence lawyers were expected to argue he is not guilty because he was legally insane at the time of the 20 July shooting. | |
| But investigators say the former neuroscience graduate student had stockpiled weapons and ammunition ahead of the attacks. | |
| He allegedly also booby-trapped his flat to explode, in an apparent bid to distract police from responding to the cinema during the shooting. | |
| In March, Colorado introduced new gun legislation to impose limits on the size of ammunition magazines and expand background checks for gun buyers. | |
| The law bans the type of magazine used to fire dozens of bullets in just a few seconds during the Aurora shooting. | |
| President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Denver, Colorado, on Wednesday to highlight the bill as part of a campaign for national gun control measures in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in December, in the state of Connecticut. |