what happened was his choice.

Metzner diagnosed Holmes with schizoaffective disorder, a variety of schizophrenia that combines psychosis, hallucinations and delusions with a mood disorder such as mania or depression.

Defense attorney Tamara Brady told jurors that her client's withdrawn behavior in his early teens was symptomatic of the onset of mental illness. She also pointed out other examples of behavior that at the time was dismissed as shyness, or social awkwardness.

But shy people don't dye their hair orange, as Holmes did before the shooting. They don't talk about "human capital." They don't pose for selfies in black contact lenses and body armor, with guns in their hands.

In March 2012, he finally sought the help of a psychiatrist on campus. He stopped hiding his thoughts and stated that he wasthinking about killing people. But a lot of mentally ill people do that, and the psychiatrist saw no evidence he'd actually act on those thoughts. Still, she wondered if he might be psychotic.

Do we execute people who are mentally ill?

Holmes was given medication, including Zoloft, which eased his anxiety, but also may have triggered a mania that led him to purchase guns, ammunition and ballistic gear as he rushed to complete his "mission," Brady said.

About four months after the theater shootings, Holmes had a serious psychotic break in jail. He licked the cell walls, smeared feces and performed somersaults with a paper cup balanced on his penis. He saw shadows and tried to get away from them.

Holmes was and still is severely mentally ill, Metzner testified. But for