Thread: Judge reconsiders trial, hearing dates for Holmes

Judge reconsiders trial, hearing dates for Holmes

Associated Press – 7 mins ago


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Associated Press/The Denver Post, Andy Cross, Pool,File - File-This June 4,2013 file photo shows Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes in court in Centennial, Colo. Holmes is scheduled Tuesday, June …more 25, 2013 at a hearing where the judge overseeing the Colorado theater shooting case will reconsider the timing of the trial and other proceedings. (AP Photo/The Denver Post, Andy Cross, Pool,File) less


CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — The judge overseeing the Colorado theater shooting case is reconsidering when suspect James Holmes will stand trial.
It had been scheduled to begin in February, but the state mental hospital says it can't complete his mental evaluation until mid-September, nearly two months later than Judge Carlos A. Samour originally planned.
He's holding a hearing Tuesday to reconsider the timing of the trial and other proceedings.
The hospital says the delay is partly because the psychiatrist has to review some of the 40,000 pages of evidence in the case.
Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 on July 20 at an Aurora movie theater.
He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial cannot begin until the sanity evaluation is completed.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-reconsiders-trial-hearing-dates-holmes-124004212.html

Judge gives James Holmes' doctors extra time to evaluate his sanity

Posted: 06/25/2013 10:33:56 AM MDT
June 25, 2013 9:23 PM GMTUpdated: 06/25/2013 03:23:41 PM MDT

By John Ingold and Jordan Steffen
The Denver Postdenverpost.com

Defense attorney, Daniel King, leaves a status hearing for his client, James Holmes at the Arapahoe County Justice Center Tuesday morning, June 25, 2013. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

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Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes remains on-track for a February trial date, despite a judge's ruling Tuesday delaying a key deadline.
During a short hearing Tuesday, Judge Carlos Samour allowed doctors at the Colorado Mental Health Institute an extra month and a half to evaluate Holmes' sanity. The new deadline for the evaluation — which is expected to begin soon — is now Sept. 16. Previously, the evaluation was to be finished by July 31.
The superintendent at the hospital asked for the extension, saying Holmes' evaluation would require doctors to read tens of thousands of pages of documents and conduct complicated testing.
"I don't think I have a lot of choice," Samour said Tuesday. "That's how long it's going to take."
But, despite the delay, Samour remained committed to beginning Holmes' trial on Feb. 3, and his subsequent comments show he is already planning for how to conduct what would be one of the most high-profile trials in state history.
Samour said he planned to summon a massive pool of 5,000 prospective jurors for the trial, with the hope that 3,200 will show up to court. He said jurors will be brought in preliminarily on Thursdays and Fridays of consecutive weeks — 800 a day — given an oath and made to fill out a lengthy questionnaire.
It could take weeks more to whittle down to the 12 people who will decide Holmes' fate.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges that he killed 12 people and wounded 70 others in an attack on the Century Aurora 16 movie theater last summer. The plea prompted Samour's order for an independent mental-health evaluation.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense objected to the extension for the evaluation, even though it will condense the schedule of pre-trial motions and hearings. Weeks-long motion hearings are now scheduled for October and December.
The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30, when a debate over whether a Fox News reporter should have to reveal her sources or face jail looks to be resolved.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold



Judge gives James Holmes' doctors extra time to evaluate his sanity - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingne...#ixzz2XGdPvIqk

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Holmes is scheduled Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at a hearing where the judge overseeing the Colorado theater shooting case will reconsider the ...