April 06, 2017 08:52 AM UTC

FACT CHECK: Brauchler Falsely Claims One Juror Blocked Holmes Verdict

•  
• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

On a right-wing radio show Wednesday, GOP gubernatorial candidate George Brauchler again said he was one juror’s vote away from getting a death-penalty verdict against the aurora-theater shooter.

But as the prosecutor in the case, Brauchler was actually three votes away, according multiple jurors and a previous statement by Brauchler himself.

On KNUS 710-AM’s Peter Boyles show April 5, Arapahoe County District Attorney Brauchler said:

Brauchler: “Any right-minded, justice-loving person out there could see why that decision was made. I’m disappointed that there was that juror that ended up saying, ‘Look, I will never ever vote for death.’ And it sort of ended deliberations. Having said that, that’s part of the process. Yes, we have the hardest death penalty law in the country, but it’s our law. Had we gotten that vote and had we gotten death, I would have expected the state to embrace that as justice. Just because I didn’t get the answer I thought was best, I’m not going to give scandal to the system. I think that guy deserved to die. I still do. What that a just outcome? I think it was, based on the system.” (Colorado Times Recoreder emphasis)

After the trial, it was widely reported that one juror wanted life and two more were undecided, based on one anonymous juror’s account.

Yet, after the trial, Brauchler said on multiple radio shows that he was one vote away from a death verdict.

But in an interview with The Denver Post six weeks after the trail, facing a reporter who was following the details of the case, as opposed to a friendly talk-radio host, Brauchler himself acknowledged that the juror count was one for life in prison, two undecided, and nine for death.

The Post reported, “After all, [Brauchler] said, he convinced at least nine jurors of his position.” And he acknowledged to the Post that he hadn’t interviewed all the jurors.

Seven weeks later, The Post interviewed another anonymous juror who said that three jurors voted affirmatively for life in prison.