When I saw news reports detailing how James Holmes opened fire on a movie theater audience last July at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, I immediately wondered how quickly his trial would move forward. In fact, the fact that he was even arrested in the first place somewhat surprised me, since most other mass shooters tend to kill themselves before police show up on scene to take them away (see: Adam Lanza and Seung-Hui Cho). I've followed Holmes' case over the course of the last several months, and his trial started last week.
And it was then that I found out about Misty Benjamin.
Misty Benjamin is a 30-year-old woman who lives near Aurora, CO, where Holmes opened fire on the movie theater crowd. She's been following his case more than I have, and even watches his courtroom proceedings in person. She didn't have any friends or family who were shot or killed in the shooting, nor does she know Holmes personally.
Benjamin was recently interviewed by The Daily Beast where she openly discussed her support for James Holmes throughout his trial. I was shocked in reading her thoughts on Holmes and the crimes for which he is accused. I couldn't believe that there was even one person who doesn't want Holmes to face punishment for his actions. I think the single most bizarre thing that Benjamin had said about Holmes was that she didn't think he was bad himself, only that what he did was bad.
Exactly how does one excuse a man like Holmes, given how much time and energy he had spent in preparing his attack? I don't see how anyone can separate Holmes from his actions in how horrific they were, but not also think he was a monster as well. I might be convinced if he had acted out in self-defense or in a momentary fit of rage, but his plan was completely premeditated. He scoped out the movie theater and planned his sudden entrance to open fire as soon as he was inside. This crime was not any brief lapse in sanity at all; Holmes was in control of his faculties the entire time.
But wait, there's more.
Turns out there are at least two pro-James Holmes Facebook pages, "James Holmes Is Innocent" and "We Care About James Holmes." I'm sure there are others as well, but the idea that any such pages exist really terrify me. Who are these people and why do they think James Holmes could possibly be innocent?
Innocence in a court of law implies that the defendant on trial needs to be proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt that he or she had committed the crime in question. If such doubt or evidence to the contrary exists, the jury is expected to acquit the defendant. It's the prosecution's job to present enough evidence to legally find the defendant guilty of the crime (which was exactly why Casey Anthony was acquitted; the prosecution failed to present enough evidence in her trial, so she sadly walked even though everyone under the sun knew she was guilty).
Given all that, how can anyone in his or her right mind think that James Holmes is innocent? Multiple eye witnesses at the movie theater saw him open fire, and police searched through his booby-trapped apartment to find more weapons stacked away there. Those two pieces of evidence alone are more than enough to convict the guy, so the trial at this point is little more than a formality.
Here's something even more disturbing: Benjamin mentioned having a boyfriend in her interview, and he knew about her obsession over Holmes. I've dated some really wacky women in my life, but if I ever met someone who said she openly supported a mass murderer like James Holmes, I would be out the door faster than Usain Bolt. People who obsess over celebrities and know as many intimate details about them as possible creep me out already. I couldn't imagine being involved with anyone who had walls covered in pictures of someone like James Holmes in her house.
What exactly does it mean to "support" Holmes anyway? What's there to support? Do these sheep not realize that they're falling for the exact ploy that Holmes wanted in the first place? He opened fire on that crowd to get his name in print and have some brief notoriety before being sent off to prison. His so-called followers and supporters are giving him the kind of attention he wanted all along. They're suckers.
The scary truth is that James Holmes is merely the latest example of this kind of perverted obsession. The likes of Scott Peterson and Ted Bundy received hundreds of letters from women across the country professing their love for them, and even offered marriage proposals in many cases. What thoughts go through a woman's head as she writes a letter to someone like Peterson, who murdered his wife while she was pregnant with his child? I've dated enough to know that many women out there want to find a guy who carries some dark side to himself, and ultimately "fix" him so he becomes a nice guy. I've never understood the concept of the "bad boy," nor have I understood women who are attracted to them. As confusing as those women have always been to me, they pale in comparison to women who solicit Scott Peterson for marriage.
So here's the million dollar question: Who's scarier here, the criminals themselves or the sheep who flock after them? I imagine cult artists like David Koresh could be included in this discussion, since he fooled hundreds of people into buying his shtick as well. He preyed upon people who could easily be duped into joining his cult, though Holmes and Peterson didn't actively recruit followers the way Koresh did. The women who contacted Holmes and Peterson did so of their own accord, beyond any outside influence.
I've read about conditions like Stockholm syndrome, where kidnapped individuals build attachments to their captors. They'll empathize, sympathize, and even defend their captors depending on the situation. These people who feel the need to stand up for James Holmes or Scott Peterson defend them in similar ways to those who suffer from Stockholm syndrome. If I was more versed in psychology, I'm sure I could write about warning signs or talk about what kinds of people are more susceptible to being duped into obsessing over murderers. The trouble is, these types of people don't respond to logic or reason. In fact, I doubt even the most skilled psychologists could help them see the light.
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