Words matter, and your headline on Page A3 on July 17 regarding the verdict in the Colorado theater case was spot on: “Jury swiftly convicts Colorado theater shooter.”

I refer to the word “swiftly.” Juries are tasked with deliberating, something this Colorado jury could not have done in just 12 hours.

Perhaps James Holmes had some flashes of sanity in the midst of his psychosis or maybe not, but the seeming disregard of this jury for devoting time to considering the evidence – the hundreds of pages of medical reports and hours of video – is disheartening. It looks like their minds were made up before they entered the jury room.

We Americans aren’t comfortable with an insanity defense. We look on it as an excuse for bad actions. And most mentally ill Americans do not commit murder.

But as the sister of a mentally ill brother, and as someone who was a book reviewer for NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, now National Alliance on Mental Illness) for 20 years, I was disheartened by the swiftness of the verdict.

Every defendant, no matter how horrific the crime – and this was horrific – deserves a jury that thoughtfully considers evidence. From my experience, most of us laypeople have little experience with schizophrenia, the most serious of the brain diseases called “mental illness.”

Holmes, like any defendant, deserved a jury that made an attempt to wrestle thoughtfully with all the evidence, whatever their eventual conclusion. In this case, it looks like a rush to judgment tinged with revenge; although understandable, I am not the only one saddened.

Judith Church Tydings

South Thomaston

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