Breaking news in the ongoing saga of the 25-year-old man accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20.
(Source: twitter.com)
Some people, including a former NY Times reporter jailed for refusing to reveal her sources, are blaming the public perception of Fox News for a lack of media interest in this case.
That is probably true.
Get over it. This is a big deal. Report on it.
Also, look past the fact that the former NY Times reporter is Judith Miller, who has faced controversy regarding her reporting in the run-up to the Iraq War. That doesn’t matter in this case.
What matters is that a reporter could go to jail for failing to divulge their sources.
Defense attorneys representing Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes have offered to have him plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, 9NEWS has confirmed. This is only an offer from the defense team.
The two-page filing released on Wednesday goes on to say the prosecution has yet to accept the deal because “it may choose to pursue the death penalty.” The deal hinges completely on the prosecution’s willingness to take the death penalty off the table.
Should prosecutors choose to pursue the death penalty, there is still a widespread belief that Holmes’ defense team will attempt to use an insanity defense to guarantee their client life in a mental health facility instead. Judge William Sylvester has given the prosecution until April 1 to decide whether or not it will pursue the death penalty.
Despite high expectations that his defense team would enter a “not guilty by reason of insanity” plea, Judge William Sylvester was forced to enter a “not guilty” plea on behalf of James Holmes on charges related to last summer’s Century 17 theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. While Holmes’ attorneys objected to the judge’s decision, prosecutors welcomed the plea, saying that Holmes and his team “had eight months to get to this point.” Prosecutors will announce on April 1 whether or not they intend to seek the death penalty, and the trial is currently scheduled to begin August 5, 2013. (Photo via RJ Sangosti/Denver Post) source
The courtroom artist behind the big cases. With a major murder case taking place this week, Bill Robles, who has spent five decades capturing moments big and small in courtroom cases you might have heard about, is back on the beat. His career is more interesting than about 98 percent of people’s. Anyway, we didn’t want this post to get reblogged by one of those creepy James Holmes fandom Tumblrs, so we used a picture of Kevin Federline instead.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) – CBS4 has learned from reliable law enforcement sources that James Holmes has made multiple suicide attempts in recent days, and at least one of the attempts led to a brief hospitalization.
Defense attorneys for Holmes went to court Wednesday to request a hearing for Holmes set for Thursday be postponed, but they were vague about precisely what happened.
A public defender declined in court to say what was ailing Holmes.
“It’s not as simple as a migraine,” she said.
Law enforcement contacts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told CBS4 investigator Brian Maass that Holmes jailhouse suicide attempts were viewed as being “half-hearted,” with one of them involving him running into a wall in his jail cell, another involving him jumping off his bed.
CBS4 has learned that the hospital trip Tuesday was for diagnostic testing following one of the attempts. Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson declined to confirm the CBS4 report, citing an ongoing gag order in the Holmes case.
Over prosecution objections, a judge went along with the defense motion to postpone the hearing until Dec. 10.
Crazy stuff.
Prosecutors had hoped to use the notebook to show Holmes planned the attack well in advance. Defense attorneys said it should be protected by doctor-client privilege and remain secret.
Acknowledging a fierce legal battle over the notebook was likely to ensue, prosecutor Rich Orman said it would be faster to drop the request. He said he’s betting that if Holmes’ attorneys use a mental health defense — as they’ve indicated — they’ll have to let prosecutors see the notebook and other medical files.
“At that point, the notebook may become important evidence,” Orman said.
Both sides had been expected to appeal any decision about the notebook to the Colorado Supreme Court, potentially delaying the case for months.
Shortly after the prosecution’s decision to drop the bid, Holmes’ legal team was given their first access to the notebook which has been kept sealed by the Court until today. Holmes’ defense team also asked that the judge sanction prosecutors for, what they claim to be, false allegations that Holmes was banned from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. source
University of Iowa re James Holmes: “Do NOT offer admission under any circumstances”
More details from a troubled history.
Prosecutors also confirmed in court that CU officials reported the threats to police and cut off his key card, which gave him access to buildings at the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Karen Pearson, a chief deputy district attorney in Arapahoe County, said the actions were taken by CU around the time Holmes took and failed his important oral exams in his neuroscience program.
That test was scheduled June 7 — about six weeks before the theater attack.
Taken together, the revelations amount to the most extensive statement yet by prosecutors as to why they think Holmes committed the theater shooting early the morning of July 20 during the premiere of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
An important development in the case being made against James Holmes, the former grad student accused of carrying out a theater shooting that left 12 dead in Colorado last month.
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As Aurora moves forward after the tragedy of July 20, it is our hope that the entire community will participate and benefit from the citywide healing process. Many people have asked about the future of Aurora’s Century 16 theater. We want to know your thoughts. Please take a few minutes to tell us your thoughts. These comments will be shared with Cinemark for consideration in their decision making process.A message from the City of Aurora, Colo. • Asking what the city and theater owner Cinemark should do about its movie theater — where, just a month ago, a deadly shooting changed it forever. Options on the table include tearing the theater down and replacing it with a memorial, or re-opening it under a new name. For comparison’s sake, a 1984 shooting at a California McDonald’s restaurant led that company to raze the building and build a new location nearby. A memorial was eventually placed where the fast-food restaurant was initially located.
Defendant has stated that media coverage which has already occured has, in fact, interfered with both the People’s and Defendant’s investigations.Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester • In his response to a recent motion requesting that the judge remove a gag order placed on anyone from the University of Colorado or law enforcement community with direct knowledge of the case being built against James Holmes. He also disagreed with attorney Steve Zansberg — retained by a combination of local media outlets intent on seeing the gag order overturned — who argued that it is in the public’s interest to be able to “monitor the conduct of the judicial branch” throughout the duration of the case. So we may hear little about the case as it’s happening. (EDIT: To be clear, the “defendant” in the case likely refers to the defense, not Holmes himself.) source (via • follow)
A court document filed Friday revealed Holmes was a patient of University of Colorado psychiatrist Lynne Fenton before the attack.
Sources told KMGH that Fenton contacted several members of a “behavioral evaluation and threat assessment” team to say Holmes could potentially be a danger to others, the station reported.
The “BETA” team consists of “key” staff members from various university departments who have specific expertise in dealing with assessing potential threats on campus, the school says on its website.
Holmes was a doctoral student at the university’s Anschutz Medical Campus until June, when he withdrew from the program.
Sources told KMGH that university officials never contacted Aurora police with Fenton’s concerns before the July 20 killings.
It’s worth noting that after Holmes withdrew from the school, the BETA team “had no control over him.”
stphn asks: Why did you add that Holmes was charged with 24 counts of FIRST degree murder? The AP said nothing about the breakdown of the charges.
» SFB says: Here’s another story which clearly states the charges were first-degree murder. We spotted another source which said (via tweet) it was first-degree murder, but chose to link to the AP story instead, as AP stories tend to update throughout quickly as stories break. At the time we posted, the story had just broke and the AP had literally just put up their link. — Ernie @ SFB
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