Prosecution in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, said that it will release 911 calls and videos at the preliminary hearing scheduled for later this week. During this hearing, Judge William Sylvester will decide whether prosecution has enough evidence against alleged shooter James Egan Holmes to head to trial.
It is also likely that the 24-year-old who opened fire in July at an Aurora movie theater will make his plea to the charges of 142 counts of attempted murder and murder pitted against him.
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. It remains to be seen whether the former Ph.D. student will make his plea at the hearing. It has been assumed that he will likely plead 'Not Guilty' on account of mental illness/incompetency.
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.
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.
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