Jury selection starts in the trial of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, charged with murdering 10 people in a 2021 Colorado supermarket shooting. The defense argues insanity, citing his mental state at the time.
Bollywood Fever: Jury selection began on Monday in the long-delayed trial of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the man accused of murdering 10 people in a horrific shooting at a Colorado supermarket in 2021.
The trial, which has been delayed due to questions about Alissa’s mental fitness, will center on whether the defense can convince jurors that he was so mentally ill at the time of the attack that he could not comprehend the difference between right and wrong, thereby absolving him of legal responsibility for the killings.
The basic facts of the case are not contested. On March 22, 2021, Alissa, then 21 years old, stormed a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, located about 28 miles northwest of Denver.
Armed with a legally purchased Ruger AR-556 pistol, which resembles an AR-15-style rifle, Alissa killed two people in the store’s parking lot before entering the supermarket and fatally shooting eight more. Among the victims was a police officer who had responded to the scene.
The shooting spree ended when another police officer shot Alissa in the leg, prompting him to surrender.
He was taken into custody that day and has remained detained ever since.
Alissa is now facing 10 counts of first-degree murder, alongside numerous counts of attempted murder, assault, and weapons offenses.
A conviction would result in an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole, as Colorado does not have the death penalty.
The case was put on hold after Alissa underwent a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in late 2021.
Based on the findings of state psychologists, Boulder District Court Judge Ingrid Bakke ruled him incompetent to stand trial.
However, by November 2023, Bakke found that Alissa’s mental condition had improved sufficiently under psychiatric treatment, restoring his competency and allowing the trial to proceed.
The distinction between competency and an insanity defense is critical in this case. Competency determines whether a defendant can understand the charges against them and assist in their defense, while an insanity plea focuses on the defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime.
Grim details of the massacre emerged during a plea hearing last year, when a Boulder homicide detective testified that Alissa shot one man in the back and then pursued him as he tried to crawl away, fatally shooting him again.
The detective also recounted how Alissa shot and wounded a woman, then fired additional rounds as she curled up in a fetal position, killing her.
Authorities have stated that all the victims struck by gunfire died from their wounds. While a specific motive for the rampage has not been definitively established, a psychologist who treated Alissa at a state mental hospital testified that he had expressed a desire to “commit suicide by cop.”
As the trial proceeds, jurors will be tasked with weighing the evidence to determine whether Alissa was indeed mentally incapable of understanding his actions during the deadly attack, or whether he should be held accountable for the lives he took on that tragic day in Boulder.
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