Jury selection began on Monday in the long-delayed trial of a man charged with murdering 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021, a case in which the suspect was ruled mentally unfit to face prosecution before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
The outcome hinges on whether the defense can convince jurors that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 25, was so mentally ill at the time of the mass shooting that he failed to comprehend the difference between right and wrong and thus should not be held legally responsible for the killings.
The basic facts of the case are not in dispute. Alissa stormed a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, about 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Denver, on March 22, 2021, armed with a legally purchased Ruger AR-556 pistol, which resembles an AR-15-style rifle.
Police say he killed two people in the store’s parking lot before shooting eight others to death inside the …