James Holmes Shoots 71, Kills 12, During Midinight Showing of 'Dark Night Rises' At Colorado Movie Theater

James Holmes jury to begin work on April 27

Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 in a crowded theater

UPDATED 7:21 PM CDT Mar 17, 2015
By Michael Martinez CNN

(CNN) —Opening statements in the murder trial of movie theater massacre suspect James Holmes are scheduled for April 27, more than a month ahead of schedule, a Colorado court spokesman said.

~Snipped~

When the trial began in January, some 9,000 potential jurors were summoned, and jury selection was expected then to continue until May or June, when the trial would finally start.

The jury selection process, however, appears to be moving faster than expected, according to court spokesman Rob McCallum.

Read more:

http://www.kcci.com/national/james-holmes-jury-to-begin-work-on-april-27/31851990

THE PLANNING BEFORE THE MASSACRE:


 

http://www.thegoldpatrol.com/the-planning.html

THE PLANNING BEFORE THE MASSACRE:
~snipped~
MAY 2012

MAY 10 - HOLMES PURCHASES TWO 6 OUNCE TEAR GAS CANNISTERS ONLINE.

MAY 22 - HOLMES PURCHASES GLOCK.22 CALIBER GUN FROM GANDER MOUNTAIN GUN STORE

MAY 28 - HOLMES PURCHASES REMINGTON 870 TACTICAL SHOTGUN AND AMMO (FOR HANDGUN & SHOTGUN) AT     BASS PRO SHOP

JUNE 2012

JUNE 6 - HOLMES PURCHASES 2 PAIRS OF HANDCUFFS, MILITARY GRADE FIRST AID KIT, AND TIRE PUNCTURES ONLINE

JUNE 7 - HOLMES FAILS HIS ORAL EXAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO...
Read the rest of the timeline leading to the shooting at:
http://www.thegoldpatrol.com/the-planning.html

After years delay, theater shooting trial starts Monday

Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY   12:28 p.m. EDT April 24, 2015

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Nearly three years after police arrested James Holmes outside a suburban Denver movie theater where he shot and killed 12 people, prosecutors are set to lay out why they believe jurors should order his execution.

Opening arguments begin Monday afternoon in the slow-moving case against Holmes, who is also accused of injuring about 70 others as he rampaged through the movie theater during a midnight showing of The Dark Night Returns. Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and defense lawyers argue he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he entered the theater and opened fire.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Holmes planned and prepared for weeks if not months, accumulating ammunition, practicing with his weapons, and building explosives that he used to booby-trap his apartment.

Exactly what evidence and arguments will be made have remained largely a secret thanks to a gag order dropped on the case within hours of Holmes' arrest. Under Colorado law, the same 12-member jury that will decide Holmes' guilt or innocence also will decide whether he should be executed if he's convicted.

Read more:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/23/aurora-theater-shooting/26256359/

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Colo. theater shooter James Holmes’ trial to start Monday, as gun debate dwindles

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS / Saturday, April 25, 2015, 12:48 PM

DENVER — The trial of Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes is scheduled to begin Monday, as the state’s gun debate has quieted down.

When Holmes opened fire inside a packed movie theater in July 2012, killing 12 and injuring 70, it did more than spread fear and heartbreak across the Denver suburbs. It helped revive the national debate over gun control.

That argument gained intensity in the state five months later when a gunman killed 20 children and 6 adults at Newtown Elementary School in Connecticut.

Democrats in the state legislature in 2013 muscled through new laws requiring universal background checks and banning magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.

Read more:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/colo-theater-shooter-james-holmes-trial-start-monday-article-1.2198632

James Holmes, who killed 12 at 'The Dark Knight Rises' showing, grew violent, prosecutors say

April 26, 2015 11:11 AM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - James Holmes was growing volatile well before he put on a gas mask and body armor, strapped on a rifle, shotgun, pistol and ammunition, and slipped into a midnight premiere of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises."

He was a sought-after neuroscientist-in-training, but he was falling apart. He told a classmate he wanted to kill people, prosecutors say. He fell out of favor with his professors, who suggested he find a new career. He stopped seeing his psychiatrist, then sent her text messages so threatening that she alerted University of Colorado campus police. He even mailed her his journal, in a package with burned $20 bills.

Months before Holmes opened fire on the audience on July 20, 2012, killing 12 and injuring 70 more in one of America's deadliest mass shootings, the 24-year-old doctoral student was preparing for violence.

Read more:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/james-holmes-the-dark-night-rises-shooter-grew-more-violent-prosecutors-say-1.10334781

Key Events in Path to Trial for Colorado Theater Shooter

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Apr 26, 2015, 11:09 AM ET

AP

Key dates in the life of James Holmes, on trial in the 2012 Colorado theater shooting:

Dec. 13, 1987 — Holmes is born in San Diego County, California, to Robert and Arlene Holmes.

2006 — Graduates from Westview High School in San Diego.

2010 — Graduates from the University of California, Riverside, with a B.S. in neuroscience.

2011 — Holmes enrolls in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

May 10, 2012 — Orders tear gas canisters online, according to prosecutors. Over the next few weeks, he also buys two handguns, a shotgun, an assault rifle, 6,295 rounds of ammunition and body armor, either in person or online, prosecutors say.

June 10, 2012 — Files paperwork to withdraw from the neuroscience program but doesn't say why.

June 11, 2012 — Meets with his psychiatrist, Lynne Fenton of the University of Colorado. Fenton tells a campus police officer Holmes has made homicidal statements and sent her threatening text messages.

July 20, 2012 — Holmes slips through a back door of the Century 16 theater in Aurora, where about 420 people are watching a midnight showing of a Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," and opens fire. Ten people die at the scene, two die at hospitals, and 70 are injured. Officers find Holmes leaning against his car behind the theater and arrest him without a struggle. Later, police find booby-trapped bombs and a Batman mask at Holmes' apartment. The bombs are defused.

July 23, 2012 — Holmes makes his first court appearance, his hair dyed orange-red, face unshaven, eyes appearing dazed.

Oct. 11, 2012 — Prosecutors finalize the charges against Holmes: 24 counts of murder and 140 counts of attempted murder, two counts for each person killed and two for each person injured. He's also charged with possession of explosives and committing a crime of violence

Nov. 15, 2012 — Holmes is taken to a hospital psychiatric ward and held for several days, sometimes in restraints, because he was "in immediate need of a psychiatric evaluation," according to his attorneys.

Read more:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/key-events-path-trial-colorado-theater-shooter-30594762

A new thread was started on this case to follow the trial, so I'm going to lock this thread for now.

If you want to post on this case, please use this thread:

http://www.realitychatter.com/t4661-james-holmes-colorado-theater-murder-trial#252879

Thanks!

Moving this thread from Developing Stories to Current Trials, to keep it with the James Holmes Murder Trial thread.