Jurors begin deliberations in trial of man who killed 10 people at Colorado supermarket
Jurors have begun deliberating whether a mentally ill man who said he heard “killing voices” should be convicted of murder for fatally shooting 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 or be found not guilty by reason of insanity
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Jurors on Friday began deliberating whether a mentally ill man who said he heard “killing voices” should be convicted of murder for fatally shooting 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 or be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
In closing arguments, prosecutors argued that Ahmad Alissa, who has schizophrenia, showed he was legally sane and knew the difference between right and wrong after amassing guns and ammunition to kill as many people as possible in the shooting in the college town of Boulder.
But defense lawyer Kathryn Herold told jurors that Alissa told state psychologists he heard voices that were yelling in his head, including what he described as “killing voices,” right before the shooting. The psychologists, who found Alissa sane at the time of the shooting, said he never provided details about the voices and whether they said anything specific. However, Alissa did tell them that he thought the voices might stop if he committed a mass shooting.
The experts thought the voices he was hearing played some role in the attack and they did not believe it would have happened if Alissa was not mentally ill.
