Prosecutors and Defense in the James Holmes' Dark Knight Rises movie shoot out case are demanding that the judge keep all crucial documents in the case closed to the media and public records.
Both prosecutors and defense argue that press has been interrupting the ongoing investigation. Prosecutors argue that the media has been harassing and scaring victims. "They are afraid to go in their backyards because news helicopters fly over and take pictures of their children," according to the former legal director of the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center to the Los Angeles Times.
Defense attorney Daniel King says that the media is simply using the victims as "cannon fodder."
In September, Judge William Sylvester granted the request of Steven Zansberg, the lawyer for Denver Media to open 57 previously sealed documents to the press.
The 24-year-old Holmes has yet to enter a plea, but defense says his defense team has not yet discerned "the nature and depth of Mr. Holmes' mental illness," according to the LATimes.
Last Week, prosecutors added more charges to list. Prosecutors added 14 additional charges and amended five of the other charges pitted against the former Ph.D. student. Holmes has already been charged with 12 counts of murder and 116 counts of attempted murder.
Currently, the alleged shooter Holmes is being held in a detention facility of Arapahoe County in solitary confinement. Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers told News Day that she is considering pursuing the death penalty, but only after consulting with the victims and their families.
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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