Boulder, Colorado
CNN
—

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who killed 10 people in a March 22, 2021 massacre at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, will be sentenced Monday after a jury rejected his plea of ​​insanity and found him guilty of first-degree murder.

The jury, which deliberated for just over five and a half hours over two days, found Alissa guilty but rejected his plea of ​​insanity.

In addition to the 10 murder charges, 25-year-old Alissa was found guilty on 45 other counts, including attempted murder, assault and using a prohibited large firearms magazine during the commission of a crime.

Alissa’s lawyers did not dispute that he committed the shooting. To determine whether he was insane at the time of the shooting, jurors had to weigh whether they believed he was capable of forming intent or knowing right from wrong.

Before the verdict was announced on Monday afternoon, Nikolina Stanisic, whose 23-year-old brother Neven was killed in the shooting, described him as a “caring, kind and selfless person.”

For her parents, he was “the first joy, the first happiness, but also the first sadness and the first sorrow,” she said.

“Our life without Nevin is not a complete life,” she continued. “There is someone who is always missing.”

In recent weeks, jurors in Boulder County District Court heard 10 days of testimony in which prosecutors argued that Alissa was sane at the time of the crime, even though he was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the shooting.

The shooter was declared incompetent to stand trial in 2021, but was declared sane in 2023 after being treated at a state hospital.

“The evidence in this case is clear. What happened on March 22, 2021 is not a mystery; it was captured on video,” said Assistant District Attorney Ken Kupfner in his closing argument before going through all the charges against Alissa and pointing out the actions that prosecutors say prove beyond a doubt that he acted “deliberately and with intent.”

Alissa is “not crazy. … Someone who thinks mass murder is fun is sick. We agree that he is mentally ill. He has schizophrenia, but he is not crazy,” Kupfner said.

Alissa’s defense attorney Kathryn Herold told the jury in her closing argument that “this tragedy was the result of an illness and not a conscious choice.”

“Mr. Alissa committed these crimes because he was psychotic and delusional on March 22, 2021,” Herold said. “We also know that this tragedy would never have happened without the psychosis he was suffering from.”

Many of the victims’ family members appeared in court and were emotional and tearful as the verdict was read. Before Alissa’s sentencing, several family members offered heartbreaking condolences to her loved ones and described the pain they have endured since the shooting.

Erika Mahoney, whose father Kevin Mahoney was killed, said she hopes for an apology from Alissa.

“If we never denied that he did it, where is an apology?” she asked. “An iota of remorse from them or his family would have made a big difference. The door is still open.”

She addressed Alissa directly and said, “I’m sorry you’ve had to suffer – in the past, present and future. As I said, I wish you had received more love.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.