Prosecutors and defense attorneys said Tuesday substantial resources would flow into any investigation and criminal case against the 21-year-old man suspected of killing 10 people at a Boulder grocery store.

“A case of this magnitude, with so many victims and so much tragedy, will get every possible resource devoted to it,” said John Walsh, a former U.S. Attorney for Colorado. “The fact that the identity of the shooter may be known makes no difference.”

The case against the suspect will likely proceed to trial, given Colorado’s elimination of the death penalty in 2020 and the corresponding incentive to plead guilty, experts said. The federal government still maintains capital punishment, which will become a factor if U.S. prosecutors bring charges, depending on what the government learns of the suspect.

Craig L. Truman, a Denver defense attorney whose clients have included those accused of homicide, described the detailed portrait of the suspect’s life both sides would try to compile.

“The first record about you is your birth certificate. The last record about you is your jail booking. Anything that’s in writing, I want everything in between,” he said of preparing a case.

It is important for a forensic psychiatrist and psychologist to examine the suspect, Truman said. School records, job records and statements from people acquainted with the defendant would help his attorney determine “who this guy is, what makes him click.”

Barring separate charges from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty will handle the case. His office declined a request to speak about the proceedings, but people familiar with Dougherty described him as fully up to the task.

“I am confident that Michael will bring his decades of experience to bear to ensure that this tragic case is thoroughly and fairly investigated, while at the same time ensuring that the victims and their families are treated with the utmost respect,” said Amy Padden, a deputy district attorney in the Fifth Judicial District of Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake and Summit counties. “He has a very talented and dedicated staff who will ensure that this case receives the attention that it deserves.”

Dougherty was a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office at the time of the 9/11 terror attacks before he was recruited to run a project in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to review DNA evidence of convicted defendants — leading to one man’s exoneration for murder. After serving in the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Jefferson and Gilpin counties, Dougherty was appointed byt then-Gov. John Hickenlooper as Boulder’s head prosecutor in 2018.

“He probably hasn’t allowed himself the luxury to get too emotional,” said George Brauchler, the former District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. “… But I also think Michael’s a career prosecutor. This isn’t his first murder case. But it will be the biggest — and hopefully worst — murder case he’ll ever have.”

Brauchler, who handled the prosecution of the man who killed 12 people inside an Aurora movie theater in 2012 and the alleged killer of Kendrick Castillo at a Highlands Ranch school in 2019, predicted the Boulder suspect will have a “well-funded defense team.” 

In the prosecution’s corner will be the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its expertise. Those skills include pursuing potential communications by the suspect and tracking the gun used in the commission of the crime,.

Walsh, the former U.S. Attorney who saw multiple massacres in Colorado during his tenure said there will be a parallel federal inquiry, and the crime will be a top priority for President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. Attorney.

However, there will likely be a dearth of information made public about the shooting right away.

“We have ethical rules as prosecutors that don’t apply to other attorneys that prevent us from making public statements that may prevent a defendant from receiving a fair trial,” said Steve Jensen, who spent 33 years as a prosecutor in Jefferson County and handled cases arising from the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2010 killings at Deer Creek Middle School.

Truman, the defense attorney, agreed on the necessity of staying quiet.

“I’ve never had a case in my 47 years where publicity helped me,” he said. Defending an accused murderer, Truman added, is “a terrible spot for the defense lawyer to be in. They’ll do their duty, but you don’t like it when the phone rings with these sorts of things.”

Correction: The Highlands Ranch school shooting occurred in 2019.