James Holmes Legally Bought Arsenal of Guns, Chemicals

Jan 8, 2013 4:01pm

James Holmes Legally Bought Arsenal of Guns, Chemicals

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(Image credit: Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo)

By CAROL McKINLEY and CHRISTINA NG

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Accused Aurora shooter James Holmes legally bought thousands of bullets, explosives chemicals and four guns months before prosecutors say he opened fire on a crowded movie theater, an ATF agent testified today.

The agent testified on the second day of a preliminary hearing, which is essentially a mini-trial as prosecutors present witness testimony and evidence to outline their case against the former neuroscience student.

Agent Steve Beggs gave the prosecution a timeline that showed Holmes started his buying spree on May 10, 2012 with the online purchase of tear gas grenades. From then until July 14, Beggs testified, Holmes legally bought nearly 6,300 rounds of ammunition, two Glock .40 caliber pistols, a .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle, a 12-guage shotgun, ballistic protection clothing, beam laser lights, bomb-making material and handcuffs. Some of the purchases were made online and some were made in person.

Video surveillance taken as Holmes was buying several of the items in person showed that he had what Beggs described at “reddish-orange hair” at the time. Holmes hair was dyed the same striking color at the time of the shooting.

Holmes’ defense attorney Tamara Brady asked Beggs if there is a legal process to keep from selling these items legally in Colorado to a “severely mentally ill person.” Beggs answered that there is not.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE AURORA THEATER SHOOTING

The hearing at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo., could last all week. Judge William Sylvester will decide whether the case will go to trial. Holmes’ attorneys have not yet said whether they plan on using a insanity defense, in which case Holmes could possibly be deemed unfit to stand trial.

Another possibility is that the hearing could set the stage for a plea deal.

If the case does not go to trial, this week’s hearing could be the only opportunity for public testimony and release of information in a case where gag orders and sealed documents have kept much of the evidence and information away from the public.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/01/james-holmes-legally-bought-arsenal-of-guns-chemicals/

Your preferred source:
Theater rampage recordings resound with booming shots, screams Los Angeles Times - by Michael Muskal

In Depth:
James Holmes Hearing Day 2: Aurora Theater Shooting 911 Calls Reveal ... Huffington Post

I want to know where impoverished student James Holmes came up with the at least ten grand he needed for all this stuff?

The other thing I want to know, is what was in his four prescription bottles the police seized from his apartment because one of the arresting officers said that James Holmes's pupils were severely dilated when he was arrested and that he kept smiling and smirking after arrest.

The evidence offered by officers observing Holmes upon arrest would suggest that James Holmes either has organic brain damage and or was under the influence of powerful psychotropic legal and or illegal drugs at the time of the massacre.

What drugs were in his system to cause his pupils to be heavily dilated like an LSD trip?

W

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Originally Posted by ALIPAC

I want to know where impoverished student James Holmes came up with the at least ten grand he needed for all this stuff? . . .

W

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7/23/2012

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University of Colorado officials disclosed Monday that mass shooting suspect James Holmes was being paid $26,000 a year for his studies, money that could have financed the cache of firearms, ammunition and explosive devices found in his apartment.

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Holmes received $26,000 a year for studies

@ http://www.alipac.us/f19/suspects-elaborate-arsenal-easily-available-261294/

Doctoral students receive free tuition, and most get federally sponsored 12-month grants of $26,000, about $500 a week. Holmes, who was not employed, bought an assault rifle, shotgun, two semi-automatic handguns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the months leading up to what police called a methodically planned shooting spree.
Officials say virtually no doctoral student has an outside job, given the intense nature of the program, which can take four or more years to complete.

Holmes received $26,000 a year for studies

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Originally Posted by ALIPAC

. . . The other thing I want to know, is what was in his four prescription bottles the police seized from his apartment because one of the arresting officers said that James Holmes's pupils were severely dilated when he was arrested and that he kept smiling and smirking after arrest.

The evidence offered by officers observing Holmes upon arrest would suggest that James Holmes either has organic brain damage and or was under the influence of powerful psychotropic legal and or illegal drugs at the time of the massacre.

What drugs were in his system to cause his pupils to be heavily dilated like an LSD trip?

W

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7/21/2012
James Holmes Reportedly Took Drugs Before Shooting Spree

James Holmes took Vicodin 2-and-a-half hours before yesterday's shooting rampage ... this according to a new report.

According to KMGH TV in Denver, Holmes took 100 mg of Vicodin late Thursday night.

Meanwhile a man who lived across the street from Holmes told the NY Post he used to "see him smoking weed behind the apartment." He told the paper, "Nobody ever really talked to him. He was alone a lot."

Holmes remains in custody and is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 AM on Monday.

James Holmes -- Reportedly Took Drugs Before Shooting Spree | TMZ.com

James Holmes Smoked Marijuana, Took Vicodin -- Reports

By Dennis RomeroMon., Jul. 23 2012 at 7:03 AM

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/a...mb-210x218.jpg

adultfriendfinder.com

Holmes' adult sex site profile photo.

Suspected Aurora massacre shooter James Holmes took Vicodin before the attack and was also a marijuana smoker, according to reports posted over the weekend.The 24-year-old from San Diego who was in L.A. as a summer camp counselor in 2008 took 100 mg of Vicodin about 2-and-a-half hours before Friday morning's attack at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, reported the ABC news affiliate in Denver.

A report of his alleged weed smoking was attributed to the New York Post, but ...

... we couldn't find the story nowhere online. TMZ points to a piece that doesn't mention such toking, saying:

... A man who lived across the street from Holmes told the NY Post he used to "see him smoking weed behind the apartment." He told the paper, "Nobody ever really talked to him. He was alone a lot."

If true it could be bad news for medical cannabis advocates. Marijuana has a powerful, psychoactive component that, like legal, prescription drugs, has the potential to be abused.

Last year we reported that Tucson massacre suspect Jared Loughner was known to smoke pot and Salvia.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/07/james_holmes_marijuana_vicodin_aurora.php

My preliminary Google search on dilated pupils and marijuana indicates there is a lot of dispute on the subject. Many argue that marijuana does not dilate pupils unless is consumed with other drugs like LSD or cocaine.

The officer said that Holmes's pupils were very noticeably large which does not sound like a symptom of marijuana and I am assuming that Holmes's pupils were being observed in the bright lights of police flashlights at the time which means his pupils were unresponsive to light.

Thanks for the good info JD2!

W

Aurora theater shooting: Cops took pill bottles from Holmes' apartment

Posted: 01/07/2013 12:01:00 AM MST
January 7, 2013 5:20 PM GMTUpdated: 01/07/2013 10:20:09 AM MST
By John Ingold
The Denver Postdenverpost.com

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An investigator with Daniel King, chief trial deputy with the Colorado State Public Defender's Office, takes video in theater-shooting suspect James Holmes' apartment in Aurora. (Hyoung Chang, Denver Post file)


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CENTENNIAL — Aurora police seized four prescription bottles and immunization records when they searched theater-shooting suspect James Holmes' apartment in July, according to newly obtained filings in the murder case against Holmes.

The disclosures come in a back-and-forth between prosecutors and defense attorneys over whether those items should be subject to doctor-patient confidentiality. The judge ultimately ruled in October that prosecutors could keep the items.

Holmes is charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and other offenses in the July 20 shooting rampage at an Aurora movie theater that left 12 dead and at least 58 injured.

The documents — many of which are heavily redacted — do not reveal what prescriptions the bottles were for or whether prosecutors intend to use them as evidence.

The documents simply add new droplets to the dribbled stream of information in the past several months about the theater shooting.

That stream, though, is expected to turn into a torrent starting Monday, when prosecutors begin laying out their case against Holmes in a critical hearing that will determine whether there is enough evidence for Holmes to face trial.

The proceeding — known jointly as a preliminary hearing and a "proof evident/presumption great" hearing — starts at 9 a.m. Monday in the Arapahoe County courthouse and is expected to last all week.

It is expected to be the first time detectives testify at length about the case and the first time prosecutors show pictures and video of the shooting scene.

The hearing may also be the first time Holmes' attorneys are able to thoroughly challenge prosecution evidence and present their own version of the story.

By the end of the week, the public will likely know far more than it does now about the planning, execution and, perhaps, motive behind one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.

But experts say the outcome of the hearing is little in doubt.
"Prosecutors don't lose preliminary hearings in Colorado," said legal analyst and former prosecutor Craig Silverman. "It's a minimal standard."

Silverman said he expects prosecutors to lay out an extensive timeline of the July 20 shooting, describing how the shooter moved through the theater and switched from one weapon to the next.

Prosecutors will have to present evidence related to each of the victims — the 12 people killed and the 70 others who were wounded or shot at.

"There's just so many victims, it could take a long time," Silverman said.
Attorney Dan Recht, though, said the prosecution and the defense will have deeper motives than just presenting and challenging evidence.

"The issue in this case is going to be ultimately whether Holmes is sane or not sane," Recht said. "This is not a whodunit case. ... The preliminary hearing is going to focus on, to the extent the parties can, the sanity issue."

Recht said prosecutors will likely try to present their evidence in a way that makes Holmes look like a calculated, clear-headed planner.

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, will likely raise questions about Holmes' mental well-being.

That is why, Recht said, defense attorneys were insistent about being able to call two witnesses who can speak to Holmes' "mental state," when the defense usually does not call witnesses at a preliminary hearing.

But Silverman noted there is little about this case that is usual. Preliminary hearings often last less than an hour.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold

Aurora theater shooting: Cops took pill bottles from Holmes' apartment - The Denver Post Aurora theater shooting: Cops took pill bottles from Holmes' apartment - The Denver Post

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James Holmes Smoked Marijuana, Took Vicodin -- Reports

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FDA might tighten reins on Vicodin

Donna Leinwand Leger, @DonnaLeinwand, USA TODAY8:55a.m. EST January 10, 2013

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Hydrocodone has a dark side as a recreational drug.(Photo: Roel Smart, Getty Images)
Story Highlights

• CDC calls prescription painkiller abuse an epidemic
• DEA wants to elevate Vicodin to the most restrictive category
• FDA will hold a hearing in January on it

The DEA for nearly a decade has pushed for tighter restrictions on Vicodin, the nation's most widely prescribed drug. The chronic abuse of such painkillers, and devastating toll associated with this abuse, has reached epidemic proportions in the United States.

The agency could get its wish later this month when the Food and Drug Administration considers the DEA's request to put Vicodin in the same category as OxyContin and other powerful narcotics.

A recommendation from the FDA has proven elusive and is far from certain, but such a reclassification would allow the Drug Enforcement Administration to elevate the powerful painkillers from Schedule III to Schedule II, the most restrictive category of medically accepted drugs.

For the millions of patients across the nation who rely on Vicodin for relief from severe pain, the new rules could sharply restrict the number of pills they can get and drastically increase the number of doctor visits necessary to get them. Many patients who can now get a six-month supply would need to visit their doctors every 30 days to renew a prescription.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls prescription painkiller abuse an epidemic. Opioid painkillers, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, cause 75% of prescription drug overdoses, the CDC says. In recent years, such overdoses have outpaced cocaine and heroin deaths combined, the CDC notes.

"This is a real problem for the country," said Lynn Webster, president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and a board-certified anesthesiologist. He will speak before the FDA committee that meets Jan. 24-25 to consider the DEA's request.

This is the DEA's second attempt to get the FDA to elevate the powerful painkillers from Schedule III to Schedule II. In 2008, the FDA rejected the DEA's initial request submitted in 2004. The reasoning: The hydrocodone combination drugs have less potential for abuse than the other drugs in Schedule II, including oxycodone.

The DEA counters that abuse, trafficking and diversion of the drug have grown since its first request, causing a "devastating effect" on public health.

"Schedule III controls are not adequate," DEA Deputy Assistant Administrator Joseph Rannazzisi wrote Feb. 13, 2009, in a letter to the FDA requesting a scientific and medical evaluation of the drug for rescheduling.

Emergency room visits involving hydrocodone jumped from 37,844 in 2004 to 57,550 in 2006, the DEA says. In 2010, the most recent year available, the number had doubled from just four years earlier: 115,739 people were treated.

The FDA committee will evaluate the DEA's evidence, hear comments from the public and vote on its recommendation to the FDA commissioner and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The vexing question during the last review, and surely this one, is whether changing the classification will stem the misuse of the drug, or simply inconvenience patients. An analysis completed last year and submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services in advance of the meeting concluded the painkillers are "widely abused," but found no evidence to support that rescheduling would curb abuse.

WHAT PATIENTS SEE
Vicodin is a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, the medicine in Tylenol. As a Schedule III drug, doctors can authorize up to five refills on one 30-day prescription, giving patients a six-month supply before they must visit a doctor.

Doctors wrote nearly 131 million prescriptions for the combination hydrocodone painkillers for 47 million patients in 2011, the FDA found in its analysis. IMS Health, a consulting and research firm, put the number of prescriptions at 137 million.

If Vicodin and other hydrocodone combinations, such as Lortab and Vicoprofen, are elevated to Schedule II, doctors cannot prescribe refills of a 30-day supply or phone a prescription in to a pharmacy. Rescheduling the painkillers would add another layer of regulations for manufacturers and pharmacies, including more extensive record-keeping and tighter security.

"On the surface, it looks like it might be the right thing to do," Webster said. "With increasing availability, we've seen an increase in the amount of harm from the drug, but I'm not sure rescheduling is going to reduce that harm."

Webster predicts that a reclassification would change prescribing practices because the restrictions on such drugs place burdens on physicians who have to do more paperwork and see patients more frequently. Patients who need the drug could face higher costs and more co-pays with increased doctor visits, he said.

"If we're talking about the problem of abuse, it's not just about the drug," Webster says. "It's also about the person and the environment. Part of the solution is for us to not focus only on the drug but also on the risk factors that lead to a substance-abuse problem."

Ed Michna, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who is board-certified in anesthesia, pain and palliative care, says the hydrocodone combinations have the same abuse potential as oxycodone, so there's no medical or scientific reason why they are not in the same category.

"It's one of the most abused drugs in the country," Michna said.

But he points out that changing the classification won't end abuse and might cause other problems.
"The other side of it is there's going to be an impact on patient care," Michna said. "Certainly, there will be less Vicodin prescribed. What's going to happen is that patients who probably deserve to have this as a treatment option are going to suffer."

A DECADE OF CONCERN
Doctors, the DEA and the FDA have wrestled with the drug since 1999 when a physician petitioned the DEA to change the classification, citing increasing reports of abuse. The DEA, after compiling abuse data, in 2004 asked the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research for a scientific and medical evaluation.

On March 6, 2008, the FDA recommended against changing the classification. A year later, on Feb. 13, 2009, the DEA resubmitted its request with new data.
The January hearing is the final step in the FDA's latest evaluation.

Last year, the Senate unanimously passed a measure offered by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to elevate the hydrocodone combinations to Schedule II as an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, but the House did not include the measure in its bill.

The DEA's administrator could issue an emergency order that would reschedule the drugs for two years, as it did when drugs such as K2 and Spice, synthetic forms of marijuana, emerged as a problem. The DEA declined to say Wednesday why it had not issued such an order.

Though the DEA and experts concerned with painkiller abuse are urging quick action, FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky defends the pace, and method, of the deliberation.

"Because this issue would impact millions of people, it has to be handled carefully and we have to make sure we are evaluating all the available data we have and make a really informed evaluation."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/09/fda-might-tighten-reins-on-vicodin/1822211/