Suspect in Colorado Killings Enters Insanity Plea

By Jack Healy
The New York Times
Originally posted on June 4, 2013

James E. Holmes, the former neuroscience student charged with killing 12 people inside a Colorado movie theater last July, changed his plea on Tuesday to not guilty by reason of insanity.

It was an expected shift in Mr. Holmes’s defense, formalized during a court hearing in this Denver suburb. As the judge read a lengthy document describing the legal consequences and psychiatric examinations that would follow the plea, Mr. Holmes, shackled and dressed in a red jail uniform, appeared to follow along on a copy, gazing down as one of his lawyers flipped the pages.

The entire story is here.

Mental Evaluations Endorse Insanity Plea in Colorado Shootings, Defense Says

By Jack Healy
The New York Times
Published May 13, 2013

Mental health experts who evaluated the man accused of killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater last year have offered a diagnosis that bolsters an insanity plea in the case, his lawyers said at a hearing here on Monday.

“We now have a diagnosis that’s complete,” Daniel King, a defense lawyer for the suspect, James E. Holmes, said in court. “We now have an opinion by qualified professionals.”

Mr. Holmes, 25, a former graduate student in neuroscience, faces 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges in the July 20 shooting during a midnight premiere of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” at an Aurora movie theater. Officials say he slipped out of an emergency exit shortly after the movie began, sheathed himself in commando-style gear and then returned through the same door to spray the sold-out crowd with gunfire.

Mr. Holmes’s lawyers made a long-expected move on Monday to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. At an arraignment in March, a judge entered a straightforward not guilty plea on Mr. Holmes’s behalf after his lawyers said they were not ready to enter a plea.

The entire story is here.

James Holmes' Attorneys: Colorado Insanity Pleas Are Unconstitutional

By Dan Elliott
The Associated Press
Originally published March 6, 2013

Prosecutors in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting are disputing defense arguments that the state law on insanity pleas is unconstitutional.

In court documents made public Wednesday, prosecutors said the statute has been upheld in other cases, and that judges have ways to protect defendants' rights.

Lawyers for suspect James Holmes filed motions last week asking the judge in the case to declare the law unconstitutional because it would require Holmes' attorneys to give prosecutors potentially incriminating information, such as mental health records, if he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defense said that violates Holmes' rights, including Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination. They said defendants who simply plead not guilty are not required to turn over such information.

The entire story is here.

Files Offer Glimpse Into Shooting Suspect

By JACK HEALY
The New York Times
Originally published September 28, 2012

Here is an excerpt:


The defendant, James E. Holmes, had been a graduate student in the neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver, but he had struggled and was in the process of dropping out of the program by mid-June, about six weeks before the July 20 shootings.

The legal case against Mr. Holmes has proceeded with a high degree of secrecy, with the bulk of the case file hidden by court order from public view.

The judge in the case, William B. Sylvester, opened the file over the objections of prosecutors and defense lawyers, but he agreed to leave documents like affidavits and warrants under wraps. He allowed heavy redactions of motions and documents, meaning that entire pages of the case file are blacked out, obscuring their content and meaning.

After the killings, family members of victims and people who knew Mr. Holmes, 24, asked what warning signs he might have offered as he became more isolated and, according to the police, began to amass an arsenal of guns, bullets and explosives.

The entire article is here.

Prof whom Holmes allegedly threatened appears to be his psychiatrist Read more: Prof whom Holmes allegedly threatened appears to be his psychiatrist

By John Ingold and Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post
Originally published September 29, 2012


The University of Colorado professor whom Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes allegedly threatened appears to be Holmes' psychiatrist, according to a court filing made public Friday.

In the filing, prosecutors assert that Holmes and Dr. Lynne Fenton ended their doctor-patient relationship after Holmes made threats to someone, who reported those threats to the CU police. Later in the filing, prosecutors appear to indicate that the person who contacted police was Fenton. In both cases, though, the name of the person contacting police is redacted.

"The relationship was terminated after the defendant made threats directed towards (redacted), who reported the matter to" the police, the filing states. Later on, prosecutors write: "[T]he defendant's professional relationship with (redacted) had been terminated after she reported threats to the CU police."

The entire article is here.

James Holmes' psychiatrist went to cops with concerns about a patient

By John Ingold and Jeremy P. Meyer
denverpost.com
Originally published August 30, 2012

Here are some excerpts:

On the day she last saw James Holmes, University of Colorado psychiatrist Lynne Fenton went to a campus police officer with concerns about a patient.

Fenton testified Thursday during a hearing in Holmes' murder case that she had no contact with Holmes after June 11. That same day, Fenton said, she contacted Officer Lynn Whitten about a patient. Fenton did not identify the patient, citing the confidentiality issues that were the focus of Thursday's hearing.

"I was trying to gather information for myself," Fenton said.

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The purpose of the hearing was for prosecutors and defense attorneys to debate whether a notebook Holmes mailed to Fenton the day before the July 20 rampage, which also left 58 injured, is a confidential communication between a doctor and a patient. The defense says it is. Prosecutors believe they should be able to look at it.

The hearing ended Thursday unfinished, and the issue will be taken up again Sept. 20.

The entire story is here.

Thanks to Gary Schoener for this story.

Colorado Shooting Suspect Was Getting Psychiatric Care

By Dan Frosch
The New York Times
Originally published July 27, 2012

James E. Holmes, the Colorado man accused of gunning down 12 people at an Aurora movie theater last week, was being treated by a psychiatrist whose research interests include psychotherapy and the neurobiology of schizophrenia, according to court papers filed by Mr. Holmes’s lawyers on Thursday, the first documented glimpse into his mental health condition.

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According to the court papers, Mr. Holmes had sent a package to Dr. Fenton, which was ultimately seized by the police after a search warrant was executed on Monday.

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In September 2004, Dr. Fenton received an admonition from Colorado’s board of medical examiners for prescribing medications — including the allergy medication Claritin, the sleeping pill Ambien, two tranquilizers and the narcotic painkiller Vicodin — for a few colleagues and her husband on several occasions, and failing to keep proper documentation of the prescriptions. The board noted in its admonition letter that Dr. Fenton was no longer writing prescriptions for people who were not her patients.

The entire story is here.