James Holmes' Victims Applaud Death Penalty Plan Friends of Aurora shooting victims applauded prosecutors' decision today to seek the death penalty for James Holmes, with one friend saying he wanted to be in the room if Holmes is executed. I don't know if it's painful. I want him dead. I just want to be there in the room when he dies," Bryan Beard said outside the Colorado courthouse. He took one of my friends from this Earth. Death equals death. Beard's close friend Alex Sullivan was one of the 12 people killed in the shooting on July 20 last year. It was Sullivan's 27th birthday. "For James Eagan Holmes, justice is death," District Attorney George Brauchler said in court. "They are trying to execute our client and we will do what we need to do to save his life," public defender Tammy Brady said in a voice shaking with anger. We are asking the court not to rush this. Holmes was swiveling back and forth in his chair during the discussion of the trial date. Judge Carlos Samour, the case's new judge, set the trial date for Feb. 3, 2014, but the date could change if the defense finds it is not ready early next year. "I want to be aggressive in moving this case along, and at the same time I want to make sure it's done right," Samour said. Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding at least 58 when gunfire erupted in an Aurora theater last July during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."