Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/551444
BySadieGurman The Associated Press CENTENNIAL, COLO. Ju- rors struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as a grieving father described how he re- turns now and then to the Colorado theater where his son was murdered. Tom Sullivan's voice wa- vered as he described how his family looks for the very spot where his son Alex was killed while celebrating his 27th birthday and first wed- ding anniversary. "We go up and we sit in Alex's row, and we're sitting in row 12, and we leave seat 12 open for Alex," Sullivan said. "We sit next to him." District Attorney George Brauchler said such testi- mony reinforces that death is "the only appropriate sentence" for murdering 12 people and trying to kill 70 others at the premiere of a Batman movie three years ago. Defense attorney Re- bekka Higgs' voice cracked as she insisted that the crimes were caused by the psychotic breakdown of a mentally ill young man. She said life without parole is the morally appropriate re- sponse, and warned the ju- rors that "each of you will have to live with your de- cision for the rest of your lives." "We will ask that you not answer death with death," Higgs said. Tom Sullivan had shared his grief in public before, three years ago, when he begged a group of report- ers for help as he frantically tried to find his son in the aftermath of the attack. A news photo captured his trauma, becoming one of the searing images many remember from that day. "I said, I can't find him, I said, I don't know where he is, I said, can you please help me.... It's his birth- day, for God's sakes," Sulli- van recalled on the witness stand. One juror dabbed her eyes and another squinted hard, fighting back tears. Other survivors included Amanda Medek, who testi- fied that she still can't en- ter a movie theater. She re- called frantically searching hospitals before officers ap- peared at her parent's home with a picture of her little sister, Micayla. "All I re- member is my knees buck- ling and slamming into the concrete floor," she said. Micayla was "filled with love," she said. "Kind, sweet, innocent. She was a kid. She was just about to be a col- lege kid. She was young. She was never in love. She never got to have a family." COLORADO THEATER SHOOTING Victim'sgrievingdadtells Holmes jury of devastating loss BARRYGUTIERREZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members a er losing his son Alex in the Aurora movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. Sullivan testified on Tuesday during penalty phase 3 of the trial of Aurora movie theater attacker James Holmes. By Scott Smith The Associated Press FRESNO World-famous wingsuit flier Dean Potter had strapped his iPhone to the back of his head and hit record before jumping from a cliff in Yosemite National Park in what was to be an exhilarating flight through a V-shaped rocky forma- tion — a route that left lit- tle margin for error. Potter set the phone at this position to cap- ture a video of his part- ner, Graham Hunt, behind and above him as the pair leaped off the granite div- ing board at Taft Point, 3,500 feet above the valley. Twenty-two seconds later the video abruptly stops. The two were killed when they slammed into the ridgeline at 100 mph-plus attempting to soar through the notch in the rock forma- tion called Lost Brother. Through a records re- quest, The Associated Press obtained investigation re- ports about the deadly flight on May 16. National Park Service investiga- tors relied heavily on Pot- ter's bashed iPhone, inter- views and a series of rapid- fire photos taken by Potter's girlfriend, Jen Rapp, who stayed behind at the launch site as the spotter. The investigation con- cluded the deaths were acci- dental, but despite the video and photos of the jump, of- ficials consider the specific reason why they died a mys- tery. Investigators listed sev- eral possible contributing factors — including indeci- sion, distraction, miscalcu- lation and air turbulence — as the jumpers made split- second decisions. Potter, 43, and Hunt, 29, were both experienced in the extreme sport of wing- suit flying, a dangerous off- shoot of BASE jumping — an acronym for parachuting off buildings, antennas, spans such as bridges and Earth. WINGSUIT FLIERS Deaths of Yosemite jumpers a mystery ANGUS M. THUERMER JR. — JACKSON HOLE NEWS&GUIDE Climber Dean Potter is pictured in Jackson, Wyo. Potter, 43, renowned for his daring and sometimes rogue climbs and BASE jumps, and his climbing partner Graham Hunt, 29, were killed Saturday a er jumping from a 7,500-foot promontory called Ta Point in Yosemite National Park. By Brian Rohan The Associated Press CAIRO The 20-year-old law student says he has had enough of fruitless pro- tests in support of Egypt's deposed Islamist president, two years of a losing strug- gle with police. Now he wants to join the extremists of the Islamic State group who are bat- tling the army in the Sinai Peninsula. He and other youths are growing increasingly open in their calls for vio- lence and a move toward extremism, frustrated by the police crackdown since the military ousted Presi- dent Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Some want to avenge friends and family killed or abused by police. Once sympathetic to Morsi's Muslim Brother- hood, some of them resent it as weak and ineffectual. "Now we know there is only one right way: jihad," said the law student, Abdel- rahman, showing off scars from pellets fired at him by police shotguns during pro- tests. Like other protesters interviewed by The Associ- ated Press, he spoke on con- dition he be identified only by his first name for fear of police retaliation. He spoke bitterly about the series of ballot box vic- tories in 2011 and 2012 that gave the Muslim Brother- hood political dominance and made Morsi the coun- try's first freely elected president. "Democracy doesn't work. If we win, the pow- ers that be, whoever they are, just flip things over," he said. "The Brotherhood thought they could play the democratic game, but in the end, they were beaten." At a time when militants are carrying out more so- phisticated attacks in Egypt, the apparent spread of radicalism among youths in Cairo is a worrying sign for Egyptian authorities, who say they are working to quell violence. In recent weeks, mili- tants who declared them- selves to be the Sinai branch of the Iraq- and Syria-based Islamic State group tried to take over a Sinai town in an elaborate attack on security forces,andEgypt'stopprose- cutorwaskilled bya bomb in the first assassination of a se- niorofficialhereinaquarter- century. Attacks arefrequent in Cairoandelsewhere, often killing policemen or soldiers, and hitting businesses and some tourist sites. The insurgency swelled after the army overthrew Morsi following mass na- tionwide protests of his rule. Since then, the more than 80-year-old Brother- hood has been shattered by a security crackdown. Most of its top leaders are in prison, with several sen- tenced to death, including Morsi. Since 2013, hundreds of protesters have been killed, many more wounded and thousands arrested, of- ten brutalized in prison. LOSING STRUGGLE WITH POLICE In Egypt, disaffected youth increasingly drawn to extremism BELAL DARDER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Protesters affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood run in fear of Egyptian police forces opening fire toward them during a protest on the second anniversary of the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the Matariya district of Cairo. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B