Live blog: DA George Brauchler begins his press conference with a reading of the names of the 12 victims who died in the Aurora theater shootings.

He refuses to use James Holmes' name, calling him "that guy."

He says even though the verdict didn't go his way, and that his view of justice called for a death sentence, "those jurors did a helluva job."

While he's disappointed in the outcome, he is not disappointed in the process and he still believes in the system. He praises the jurors.

He talks about the work of the police officers and how they prevented many more injuries.[More...]

The jury did not reach a unanimous death verdict in the trial of James Holmes. He will receive life in prison without parole.

Great work by Colorado Public Defenders Tamara Brady, Daniel King and the rest of the defense team. It was an enormous uphill battle to save his life, and they did it.

Holmes agreed to plead guilty and accept a sentence of life without parole before trial, but Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler would not agree and insisted on a far more costly death penalty trial. The cost of this trial is estimated to be between $5 and $10 million. That money could have better spent elsewhere.

There are only three inmates with death sentences in Colorado. All three were charged and tried by the Arapahoe County DA's office. (Brauchler was not D.A. then.) All three are African-American. The last execution in Colorado was 18 years ago, in 1977 (Gary Davis.) The last death penalty verdict was 6 years ago (Robert Ray.) The death penalty in Colorado has been severely criticized as arbitrarily applied.

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Final Update: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner: John Kasich. Trump held his own but was overshadowed. Huckabee had some good moments. Jeb Bush was too bland. Christie is a lost cause, no pizzaz, no leadership qualities. Dr. Carson, and the two lookalikes, Walker and Cruz, were good for entertainment. Neither has a prayer. Ron Paul was Dennis the Menace and Marco Rubio was too clean cut, and uninspiring.

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Thanks to BTD for putting up a thread on tonight's debate. I hadn't intended to watch, but I am, so I'll weigh in here. Feel free to comment in either thread. [More...]

All I have to say is if Trump tries to come all statesman tonight Ima be pissed. Not what I signed up for.

Talk amongst yourselves.

The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced via Twitter it has launched a tipline for information on the whereabouts of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera. It provided an email address and phone number. The email address includes the description "Chapotips." The tips will be processed by the DEA San Diego office. There is a $5 million reward.

Acting DEA Chief Chuck Rosenberg said today he believes El Chapo is still in Mexico, probably in Sinaloa. He said that while there is information sharing with Mexico, it doesn't encompass the whole of Mexico's Government. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Continuing from the last post on the battle between Joe Biden and Pres. H.W. Bush, with each claiming to be tougher on Crime: There was one voice of reason at the hearing: Sen. Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio. Here's what he said about why the Racial Justice Bill should not be dropped from the new bill that would implement 30 to 50 new death penalty offenses: (Cite is 137 Cong Rec S 8263

Mr. METZENBAUM. Mr. President, I rise to oppose any effort to remove the Racial Justice Act amendments from the death penalty provisions of the crime bill. If a crime bill with numerous death penalty provisions is to pass this body, it is critical that we deal with the obvious discriminatory nature of death penalty sentences.

The Racial Justice Act has nothing to do with whether you are for or against the death penalty. It is about racial discrimination.[more...]

Joe Biden, the "Band of One" needs watching. Last night I was reading a speech he gave on the Senate Floor in 1991, in which he claimed Pres. Bush wasn't tough enough on crime and his crime bill was tougher than Bush's. The cite is 137 Cong Rec S 8263.

Leopards don't lose their spots. If he gets elected we'll live in a police state. His major priority is throwing more money at police, DEA, Homeland Security and anyone else with a badge.

Here's some quotes from his speech pushing for his 1991 crime bill over then President Bush's bill. He thought Bush was soft on crime. [More...]

The latest news about Joe Biden considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination is hardly a surprise. Joe Biden has always considered running for President in 2016. A year and a half ago, in February, 2014, he told ABC he couldn't think of any reason not to run. He said then he would decide by the end of the summer in 2015.

Joe Biden has always been there laying in the weeds, waiting for something to happen that might derail Hillary. Apparently, he thinks the time is now. [More....]

A court in Mexico has granted a request filed by El Chapo's lawyers to suspend the order of detention for purposes of extradition entered Wednesday. (Use google translate). The request for a writ of amparo against the detention order was filed Wednesday in the Fifth District court handling Amparo matters, the same day the judge in the Third District Court handling criminal matters granted the request for the detention order.

I think this means he can still be arrested, but he can't be extradited until he has an opportunity to present his defenses against extradition. [More...]

All persons welcome here.

Open Thread.

The Clinton campaign writes letters:

I feel obliged to put into context just how egregious an error this story was. The New York Times is arguably the most important news outlet in the world and it rushed to put an erroneous story on the front page charging that a major candidate for President of the United States was the target of a criminal referral to federal law enforcement. Literally hundreds of outlets followed your story, creating a firestorm that had a deep impact that cannot be unwound. This problem was compounded by the fact that the Times took an inexplicable, let alone indefensible, delay in correcting the story and removing "criminal" from the headline and text of the story.

Discuss.