The alleged Colorado movie theater shooter, James Egan Holmes, headed to court on Jan 2, where Judge William Sylvester set the first preliminary hearing for Jan 7, where the judge will determine if there is sufficient evidence to take the case to trial. But more importantly, the 24-year-old is likely to make a plea at this hearing.
Since his arrest in July and subsequent court appearances, Holmes and his attorneys have refrained from making any pleas, although strongly insinuating that the likely plea will be 'Not Guilty' on account of mental incompetency.
It has been a while since we heard of the alleged shooter, primarily because the case was kept under strict wraps from the public and media alike. Judge Sylvester issued a gag-order, which prohibits both prosecution and defense from speaking to reporters or divulging any information regarding the case.
At the preliminary hearing prosecutors will present the court with its evidence against the 24-year-old accused of opening fire at an Aurora movie house- killing 12 and seriously injuring 59. Holmes has been charged with 142 counts of murder and attempted murder.
Initially the Ph.D. drop out was charged with 116 counts of attempted murder and 12 counts of murder, however, earlier this month prosecution under Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson added 14 additional charges.
Prosecution says it will present the court with 911 calls and videos from the incident as a part of its evidence.
In December, the University of Colorado released over 1,500 emails exchanged to and from the alleged Aurora movie theater shooter, James Egan Holmes. The release was made public at the request of media made months ago, however most of the emails released are either redacted by the court or do not bear any relevance to the ongoing case.
Any emails regarding the 24-year-old's mental condition or regarding his interaction with the university psychiatrist has been sealed. The defense objected to the release of any documents regarding Holmes arguing that it violated his privacy in this high-profile case.
Chief of Colorado Denver Police Department, Doug Abraham told the media "Although the public's interest in knowing what the University of Colorado Denver Police Department knew about Mr. Holmes is substantial, it does not outweigh the need to ensure the fairness of the trial of Mr. Holmes, at this time," according to the local NBC News channel.
Holmes is currently being held at the Arapahoe County Detention Center.
Most crucial documents in the Aurora shooting case have been kept sealed, very few documents have been released to the public, and those that have been exposed are heavily edited.
Such has been the intention of safeguarding information regarding the case that judge Sylvester denied victims suing the movie theater crucial information in the case. According to CBS Denver, the judge is being particularly careful in his choice of what is to be exposed in the case. CBS Denver reporter, Rick Sallinger said, "We get lots of tiny bits and pieces and have to paste these parts together to make sense out of what seems like a senseless mass shooting."
On July 20, at a midnight screening of the cult-inducing Dark Knight Rises film at a movie house in Aurora, Colorado, Holmes, opened fire killing 12 people and injuring 59 others. He was arrested that morning and placed in custody.