Death Penalty Sought in Aurora Shooting Case.

In the last few minutes it has been announced that George Brauchler a prosecutor in the trial of the man accused of carrying out a mass shooting in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado during a screening of Batman: Dark Knight Rises on July 20th 2012 (20/7/12) will seek the death penalty after consulting with survivors and relatives of the victims. This move prevents the suspect from entering a guilty plea that he had previously indicated he would be willing to do in order to shorten the trial.

To complicate matters further it appears that Brauchler has been removed from the case and replaced by Carlos A. Samour, Jr by Judge William Sylvester who cited concerns about the length of time the trial was taking. Therefore it's seems Brauchler's decision to seek the death penalty will have - at best - limited impact on the outcome of the case.

Obviously the trial of the Aurora suspect has implications for the current debate about gun control that is going on in the US and the debate about the death penalty that is always in the background of US politics. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting in trial debates about whether he would be able to mount an insanity defence there were attempts to compare the suspect to me. However in that immediate aftermath I attempted to explain the suspects ego driven actions by referencing an obscure Volcanoes song called "Look at Me Now." It turns Chris Brown also once recorded a song called "Look at Me Now. Therefore in recent developments in the case there seems to have been significant attempts to create confusion about whether the suspect is a metaphor for me or a metaphor for Chris Brown.

However in today's developments the case most certainly seems to be a metaphor for Chris Brown. The question it's attempting to pose is whether the Judge at Brown's Friday (5/4/13) Court appearance should give into popular opinion and 'kill' Brown by sending him straight to prison and placing a permenant injunction on any of his songs being sold or broadcast or drag the case out by indicting with strict bail conditions including a temporary injunction on media appearances including the sale or broadcast of his songs. These injunctions will of course be imposed in order to prevent Brown contacting Rihanna. Obviously as the latter option is my idea that is the one I support not least because it gives the US the option of providing some scandal about Brown breaking his bail conditions should they find their current suicide mission regarding Rihanna's tour to be somewhat heavy going.

That said it is far more likely that this is all simply a US bluff to build tension ahead of Chris Brown's Court appearance. Therefore I'm happy to stick to my position that the US can do what it wants. I'll be happy to wait until the actual verdict in the actual Chris Brown case is formally announced.

16:05 on 1/4/13.