A Boulder County Court jury will begin deliberating on Friday whether the suspect of the shooting that killed 10 people in 2021 was criminally insane at the time.

The murder trial of 25-year-old Ahmad Alissa — the man charged with the shooting rampage at the King Soopers on Table Mesa Drive in 2021 — will be presented to the jury Friday after closing statements by prosecutors and the defense.

The defense is not contesting he killed the people. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The day is set to begin with juror instructions and closing arguments, eventually leading to deliberation by the afternoon, according to 20th Judicial District Chief Judge Ingrid Bakke, who is presiding over the trial. Bakke allowed up to two hours for each side to present closing statements.

Ultimately, the jury need to decide if Alissa was criminally insane at the time of the shooting, the focal point throughout the 10 days of witness testimonies. Specifically, the question for jurors is whether he was capable or incapable of determining right from wrong during the rampage.

Alissa faces 55 counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder, 38 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault and six counts of possessing large-capacity magazines in connection to the mass shooting that occurred on March 22, 2021. He will either spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty of first-degree murder — or, if not, years in the state mental hospital, until doctors determine he’s no longer a threat to society or himself. Colorado got rid of its death penalty years ago.

“The major challenge is as follows: once the defense raises the issue, the prosecution needs to prove sanity beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of proof remains on the prosecution,” Craig Silverman, former chief deputy district attorney for the Denver District Attorney’s Office and current trial lawyer, said of the trial.

Throughout the trial, doctors and family members have testified that Alissa suffers from schizophrenia, with Dr. Joshua Hatfield — a forensic psychologist who evaluated Alissa for the defense team after the shooting occurred in 2021 — calling Alissa “remarkably psychotic, remarkably ill.”

Meanwhile, doctors who both interviewed Alissa and reviewed the case over the last three years concluded that Alissa was not insane at the time of the shooting, despite having a mental illness.

In Colorado, the insanity defense relies upon two prongs. Prosecutors must prove that the suspect knew right from wrong at the time of the crime and that they had the ability to premeditate and form intent.

“They have substantial circumstantial evidence of premeditation,” Silverman said. “He brought that big assault weapon with all of the ammunition to accomplish a goal. It wasn’t to kill wild animals. He was hunting human beings who posed no harm to him.”

Despite Alissa claiming that audio hallucinations, which only involved yelling, caused him to commit the shooting, Dr. Ian Lamoureux, a forensic psychiatrist who reviewed the entire case and evaluations for the prosecution, said Alissa did not have hallucinations at the time of the shooting because he acted methodically and intentionally.

Alissa also purchased various firearms and ammunition in the months leading up to the shooting, even Googling how to turn his rifle fully automatic and what ammunition was the most deadly.

The defense argued that Alissa was mentally ill the entire time, with his family maintaining Alissa had shown symptoms of illness — like extreme paranoia — in the years leading up to the massacre.

The defense also argued that a significant amount of the sanity evaluations were completed after Alissa had been on medication at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo for a few years.

Now, it’s up for the jury to decide.

The victims that day included Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Teri Leiker, 51; Boulder Police Ofc. Eric Talley, 51; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

The trial will resume Friday morning at 8 a.m.