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Crime

Judge: Colorado Shooting Suspect James Holmes Will Face Trial

Jan. 10, 2013 8:53pm Jason Howerton

James Holmes Credit: AP

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A judge ruled late Thursday that there’s enough evidence for James Holmes to face trial on charges that he killed 12 people and injured 70 others in a Colorado movie theater last summer.

Judge William Sylvester said prosecutors have established probable cause to proceed with 166 felony counts, including murder and attempted murder.

Holmes is due to be arraigned Friday, but his defense attorneys filed papers Thursday afternoon saying he’s not ready to enter a plea. They are likely to appear in court Friday to ask for the arraignment to be delayed.

Defense attorneys did not explain why they are not ready for arraignment. Their filing also objected to media requests to bring cameras into the courtroom. Other than during his brief initial appearance in July, cameras have been barred from court during Holmes’ case.

Sylvester’s ruling came after a three-day hearing earlier this week, in which prosecutors laid out their case against Holmes, 25.

A succession of police and federal agents testified that Holmes spent weeks amassing guns and ammunition, concocted explosives to booby-trap his apartment and scouted the movie theater where he would allegedly unleash a horrific attack on hundreds of terrified people.

The officers also described a hellish scene inside the theater on July 20, when 12 people were shot to death before their families and friends’ eyes and scores of others were wounded amid a din of gunshots, screams and the blaring soundtrack of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Holmes’ lawyers called no witnesses and cross-examined only a few of those summoned by prosecutors during the hearing. But they pointedly raised the issue of Holmes’ sanity at strategic moments, possibly foreshadowing a defense that some believe is his best hope to avoid the death penalty.

“You’re aware that people can be found not guilty on the grounds of insanity?” defense attorney Daniel King asked one witness.

The preliminary hearing, which ended Wednesday, was designed to determine whether prosecutors’ case is strong enough to put Holmes on trial.

Holmes’ lawyers haven’t said if he will plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but since his arrest outside the theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora immediately after the shootings, they have portrayed him as a man with serious mental problems prone to bizarre behavior.

This courtroom sketch shows James Holmes being escorted by a deputy as he arrives at preliminary hearing in district court in Centennial, Colo., on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. Credit: AP

Many legal analysts have said they expect the case to end with a plea bargain rather than a trial.

Tom Teves, whose son Alex was among the dead, said he would rather see Holmes plead guilty to first-degree murder, avoiding a traumatic trial, bringing a life sentence and closing the door to an insanity defense.

If found not guilty by reason of insanity, Holmes could conceivably be released someday if he is deemed to have recovered.

“Don’t pretend he’s crazy,” Teves said Wednesday. “He’s not crazy. He’s no more crazy than you and I.”

Prosecutors developed twin themes at the hearing: the horror and devastation of the attack, and a weekslong process in which they alleged Holmes planned and prepared for the assault.

Two officers were overcome by emotion when they testified about the chaos in the theater and the race to get victims to hospitals by police cars until ambulances could arrive. Other testimony included the names and injuries of the victims, read out one by one.

Prosecution witnesses also testified that Holmes started assembling an arsenal in early May and by July 6 had two semi-automatic pistols, a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle, 6,200 rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines that allow a shooter to fire more rounds without stopping to reload.

In late June he began equipping himself with a helmet, gas mask and body armor, the witnesses said.

In early July, they testified, he began buying fuses, gunpowder, chemicals and electronics to booby-trap his apartment in hopes of triggering an explosion and fire to divert police from the theater. The bombs never went off.

Also in early July, he took some interior and exterior photos of the theater, witnesses said.

“He picked the perfect venue for this crime,” prosecutor Karen Pearson said.

On Wednesday, Pearson showed a series of photos that investigators said Holmes took of himself hours before the massacre. In one, he glares through black contact lenses, sticking out his tongue, as two locks of his orange-dyed hair curl out on either side of his head like horns.

Caren Teves, mother of Alex and wife of Tom Teves, said she saw Holmes smile when his self-portraits were shown in court.

“He just sat in the courtroom pretty much delighted. He was smiling. He was smirking,” she said.

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Comments (18)

Jerry Frey
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:57am
Try him, convict him, execute him.

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- poorrichard09
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 7:52am
  Face a trial? He should face a firing squad ASAP. I think this would be appropriate for these mass killers-no blindfold-let ‘em look down the barrels of 8-10 rifles so they know what it’s like.
  
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NiModo
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 12:01am
Just exterminate this guy. save the taxpayers money and stop his lineage. bad apple…

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Skip63
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:17pm
Please take this crazy face off the main page. I can’t stand to see that face.

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Diane TX
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:07pm
“He picked the perfect venue for this crime,” prosecutor Karen Pearson said.
————————————————————————————————–
Yep, a gun free zone. This is where law abiding citizens obey the law to the letter, but people like James do not. It was easy pickings for James. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

It would be smarter to ban “gun free zones” because there are people like James in society. Highly intelligent and crazy as a loon. I can’t help but to notice that Adam Lanza was also highly intelligent and crazy as a loon. (No insult to loons, intended.)

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HappyConservative
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:32pm
As it should be. I can’t imagine anyone having a problem with that decision.

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Cuthalu
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:28pm
Are they actually going to give him a fair trial that he is entitled to or are they going to keep forcing him on mind altering drugs the whole trial like he is now? I know, that whole innocent until proven guilty, due process, equal under the law, etc comes from the lips of people who claim to support justice but in their hearts none of those things exist. It is where we have come as a country, empty.

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- HappyConservative
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:35pm
  Where have you heard that he is being forced to take mind altering drugs? I missed that. He acts like a zombie in court and probably 24/7 to avoid the death penalty…Hello??
  
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- Cuthalu
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:35pm
  You are unaware he is being forced to be “treated” by a state psychologist? And since he is, he is being “treated” with psychotropic drugs, that is what they do. And do not think that psychologist is actually wanting to help him. This all sort of reminds me of the massacre in Australia that tricked the citizens to let the ban weapons in Australia and how it all played out. Needless to say, it was all fishy from the get go.
  
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700P
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 10:09pm
Move him into General Population and see how long he lasts. Some gang banging thug would love the street cred that raping or shivving him would bring (optional reverse order).

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KingDork
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:31pm
“Judge: Colorado Shooting Suspect James Holmes Will Face Trial” Let me know if/when there is a headline that replaces the word “trial” with “execution”

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DEFCON4
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:26pm
The 6th Ammendment,(speedy trial) should also apply to the victims of the crime.
The prosecution may not excessively delay the trial, for it’s own advantage.
Well, how about the ‘defense-team’, he’s been in jail for 6 months
and still ‘they’ need more time, to make a plea.
Judge, for the ‘lives’ of the victims’ families; Lets get this trial ‘on the road’.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:14pm
Have the trial convict the coward and put a bullet in his head. In a perfect world that’s what would happen but we all know the coward will die of old age in prison.

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- katzkiner
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:22pm
  At a cost of $65,000 plus a year.
  
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RightThinking1
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:10pm
What a shock.
Have to feel sorry for he defense guys though…, pretty much got nothing…, Ok, less than nothing. One supposes they will attempt an insanity plea.

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katzkiner
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 9:00pm
Many have asked, “Why do they all have the same stare?”. Google: Scopolamine aka Devils Breath.

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- drs1969
  Posted on January 10, 2013 at 11:29pm
  That’s right. There’s more to this. What are the odds that both his dad and Peter Lanza were to testify before the Senate regarding the LIBOR scandal? If you don’t buy that, then how about the timing of the Newtown shooting? Very conveniently located after the election, and now they are all over the TV talking about gun control. This is exactly what people saw coming 4 yrs ago, when we had the last ‘run’ on guns.
  
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DadRocked
Posted on January 10, 2013 at 8:57pm
“Judge: Colorado Shooting Suspect James Holmes Will Face Trial”

NO **** MAN

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