The judge presiding over the case of James Holmes, accused of opening fire on a crowded movie theater in Colorado in July 2012 ruled on Thursday that Holmes must be restrained throughout the course of his trial by way of a harness that he will wear, anchoring him to the floor.
According to a report from NBC News, Holmes was forced to wear shackles on his wrists and ankles during pretrial hearings, but his lawyers requested that he be unshackled during the trial. They say that if he is shackled it may negatively influence the jury, unfairly prejudicing them against the accused shooter.
Raw Story reports that Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. agreed with this notion, but insisted that due to the extremely violent nature of his crimes, Holmes poses a security risk and therefore must be restrained.
"Given the multiple violent charges in this case, public safety requires that the defendant must remain restrained during the trial," Samour wrote in his ruling.
The judge said that he will allow Holmes to wear street clothing during the trial, but under that clothing he must don a harness with a cable attached to it that will anchor him to the courtroom floor.
Samour maintains that although the cable will be visible to the jurors, they will not likely be able to distinguish it from the computer cables running from the defense table.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Holmes, 25, is accused of entering a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo. during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and opening fire on the crowd, killing 12 people and injuring 70 more.
He stands accused of 166 counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges. If convicted, he may face the death penalty.
Holmes has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and as such has been ordered to undergo an evaluation at a state psychiatric hospital. A forensic psychiatrist, a psychologist and a neuropsychologist will conduct the evaluation. If he is found to be insane, he cannot be executed for his alleged crimes.
Holmes's trial is scheduled to commence on February 3, 2014.