The Chicago Tribune cited a Reuters report which said that a judge will be setting the trial date to hear the case against former neuroscience
graduate student James Holmes. Holmes has been accused of killing 12 moviegoers at a Colorado cinema in 2012, and later claimed insanity as his reasons for the shooting spree.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour issued an order for a hearing last week after he ruled that a second sanity evaluation should be done on Holmes after the first one was incomplete and inadequate for the proceedings.
The Huffington post said that the Holmes' murder trial should have been heard in August last year. However, it was later pushed back to February this year after prosecutors announced their intention on seeking a death penalty verdict for the suspect. The secondary mental health evaluation was at the prosecutors' request, which resulted to another delay of the trial. The UK news site said that Samour has given the state hospital until July 11 this year to submit the results of the evaluation on Holmes. Moreover, it is expected that Samour will be setting a new trial date on Thursday.
The Chicago Tribune said Holmes has been charged with multiple counts of murder in the first-degree and attempted murder stemming from the fatal shooting spree during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises." The incident left 12 people dead and 70 injured moviegoers.
CNN said in a separate report that Holmes allegedly entered the cinema clad in protective gear and threw tear-gas canisters to unsuspecting moviegoers. According to law enforcement, Holmes had used several weapons he open-fired at moviegoers, which included a AR-15 rifle. The police apprehended Holmes outside the theater after fleeing the cinema, and identified himself as "The Joker," who is known as one of the archenemies of the movie character Batman.
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