CENTENNIAL, Colo. 鈥� The jury of James Holmes' peers grew smaller again today.
Judge Carlos Samour Jr. excused another juror from the original pool of 24 today. This juror's removal marks the second dismissal this week, the fifth since the trial began in April.
Juror 276 works as a school attendance administrator in Aurora. Two students who attend the school were in theater 9 during the July 20, 2012 attack.
The juror admitted to the judge on May 6 that she recognized Maria Carbonell, one of the witnesses in the trial, as the mother of one of these students. Now, six weeks later, Samour has taken action: he dismissed the juror for being "not completely forthcoming" about her relationship with the witness. He cited the fact that she failed to confront him about recognizing the witness as grounds for dismissal, reminding her that it was Carbonell who actually came forward.
Samour deferred the initial May 6 request for the juror's removal. Her departure Wednesday follows an additional request from the defense made Tuesday.
According to Sandy Phillips, mother of theater shooting victim Jessica Ghawi, whittling down the jury is part of a larger strategy by the defense team. She believes jurors who have shown emotion during the trial have been sent home.
"Those are the ones that we see (the defense) targeting," she said.
Phillips fears the defense is cherry-picking sensitive jurors for removal in order to increase the chances of a not guilty verdict.
Not so, said聽Karen Steinhauser, a University of Denver law professor聽who has previously worked both as a prosecutor and defense attorney.
"It has nothing to do with emotion," she said. "The concern is that there is going to be prejudice, that you're dealing with people who won't be able to be totally impartial."
Three other jurors were dismissed for seeing information about the case on social media. The fourth, released Monday, had a relative in the hospital after being the victim of a violent crime.
As to concerns about released jurors possibly skewing the makeup of the jury, Steinhauser said the final jurors have already been chosen. "The attorneys and the judge know who the alternates are," she said, "and the only concern is that you run out of jurors."
Phillips said of the defense, "They're trying really hard to grasp at straws." She added, "The bottom line to all of this is: he鈥檚 a killer, and he鈥檚 guilty, and he belongs behind bars or executed."
Steinhauser insisted that, as many have remarked throughout the trial, the defense team is just doing its job.
"They are just making sure their client has the jury that is the fair and impartial jury guaranteed by the Constitution."
Of the 19 remaining jurors, 12 will deliberate and seven are alternates, though they don't yet know who's who.聽The final 12 will decide whether defendant Holmes is guilty of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in his attack on the Century 16 movie theater or if he was insane at the time of the crime. He faces the death penalty if his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is rejected by the jury.