Holmes trial delayed because of sanity issue

By DAN ELLIOTT

Associated Press

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The judge in the Colorado theater shootings case Thursday indefinitely postponed the trial of James Holmes so attorneys can argue whether he should undergo further psychiatric evaluation.

Holmes’ trial was scheduled to begin with jury selection in February.

Holmes, 25, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of killing 12 people and injuring 70 during a packed midnight showing of a Batman film at a suburban Denver theater in July 2012.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Holmes underwent a mandatory sanity evaluation at the state hospital last summer.

The results haven’t been made public, but prosecutors said Thursday they want a review of one of three conclusions.

They did not elaborate, and both sides are barred from speaking about the case outside court.

Karen Steinhauser, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said most court-ordered sanity evaluations look at whether the defendant is mentally competent to stand trial; has an impaired mental condition or mental illness; and was insane at the time of the crime.

Colorado law defines insanity as the inability to tell right from wrong, so a defendant could have a mental illness but still be legally sane.

Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ordered both sides to submit written arguments on further psychiatric evaluation and tentatively scheduled hearings for Dec. 17-18.

Defense lawyers said in March they might have their own doctors evaluate Holmes, but they haven’t confirmed whether they did so.

The attorneys acknowledged he was the shooter but said he was “in the throes of a psychotic episode.”