James Holmes Trial Update: Aurora Shooting Suspect’s Mental Health Report is Completed & Given to Court (Video)

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In preparation for his pending murder trial, Aurora shooting suspect's James Holmes' report detailing his mental health has been completed and sent to the court, the Huffington Post reported. The contents of the report will be kept from the public, as ordered by the case judge.

The 128 mental health assessment was made by the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo, as court records indicated that the completed mental health assessment is only to be reviewed by the prosecutors and defense attorneys involved in the case.

"The diagnosis itself doesn't give someone a get-out-of-jail card," said Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist in Scottsdale Arizona said.

News reports added that the details of the evaluation have yet been made clear, as CMHIP Superintendent William May said that the institute staff were still pouring through an "extraordinary amount of documentation." Attorneys involved in the case said the evidence in the case takes up nearly 40,000 pages, news reports said.

On June 4, Homes entered a not guilty plea by reason of insanity, which triggered the sanity examination. He arrived at the Pueblo institute in August.

His defense team already admitted that Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 70 others at an Aurora movie theater on July 20, 2012, but that he was "in the throes of a psychotic episode"at the time.Holmes' mental health evaluation is seen as a critical factor for his defense of not guilty by reason of insanity, legal experts said.

Prosecutors might be able to convince jurors to convict Holmes, "but most juries would be very loath to have someone executed where there's a significant debate about whether the person was even sane at the time," Dan Recht, an attorney and past president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, said.

Tags
James Holmes Trial, Insanity Plea

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