massacre at sandy hook elementary. and this is the chilling cover of the new york daily news, which shows the number of shooting deaths since that tragedy. more than 87,000. joining me now, sandy and lonnie phillips. they are the parents of jessica gowy, one of those killed in aurora, 1 of 12 people killed in the theater massacre three years ago. they are now violence prevention activists. thank you both for joining me once again to talk to us. thank you for having us. absolutely. i know you still grieve. and i cannot imagine when you see or hear a headline of a mass shooting, lonnie, that you don t instantly go to that place you were when you heard that something had happened at the theater where your daughter was. we go to that place immediately. it takes us to our knees. and you have nothing but empathy and sympathy for those who are going through what you have already gone through.
of the aurora shooter is entering the final phase today. james holmes life is hanging in the balance. we have live pictures to show you as the trial gets under way in that courtroom. it s expected to be highly emotional today and there s a reason for that. the victims and their relatives get a chance to give their impact statements before the jury does its final deliberation on whether to sentence holmes to death or to give them the reprieve of life in prison without parole. joining me live outside the courthouse in centennial, colorado, is cnn ana cabrera. these are tough days to get through. do you know how many of those people are going to be able to give their statements in that courtroom? well, the prosecution said they expect to call 15 or 16 of these victims family members. we re hearing from the father of victim alex sullivan, we know. sandy phillips is one of those planning to testify, the mother of jessica gowy. she has said jessica will be speaking through her and
because this is a capital murder case. bill: it s not as simple as just changing the plea, i understand. does the judge have a say in this? h-frpblts the judge definitely has a say, the judge will actually decide whether or not he can change his plea, so it s no guarantee. and the judge will hold a previously scheduled status hearing on monday, that is when holmes or one of the members of his defense team will tell the judge the new plea. in a filing the judge responded to holmes i tension to plead insanity saying quote the court will then give the people an opportunity to respond. after the court determines whether good cause exists it will decide how to proceed. now the mother of jessica gowy killed in the theater last summer tells fox news she does not believe for a moment holmes is insane when you look at all the ma particular just planning and he was able to acquire 6,000 rounds of ammunition according to police. bill: thanks. on that story live in denver for us today. alisyn: one