Login

Register | Forgot Your Password? | Close
coloshooter.jpg
This photo provided by the University of Colorado shows James Holmes. University spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery says 24-year-old Holmes, who police say is the suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, was studying neuroscience in a Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado-Denver graduate school. Holmes is suspected of shooting into a crowd at a movie theater killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, authorities said. (AP Photo/University of Colorado)

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shootings say laws on insanity and the death penalty are constitutional and don't need any of the explanations requested by the defense.

Attorneys for the state filed their response Wednesday to motions by James Holmes' lawyers saying the laws are vague. The defense also argues the laws violate Holmes' rights by possibly barring him from calling witnesses to testify about his mental health during the trial's penalty phase.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 at a movie theater in July. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

A judge entered a standard not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf. He wants to change that to not guilty by reason of insanity.

The judge must approve the change after ruling on defense objections to the laws.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Associated Press,

share this story:
facebook

33 Comments   |   Join the conversation »
  • Add A Comment 
  • Abuse
    Ajpos wrote...
    Glorifying the violence
    July 20, 2012 7:22 am
    The worst thing that the media can do at this point is glorify the shooter as some sort of anti-hero. Typically, the news media will play clips of ambulances and police with their sirens on, lead every story with the body count and outrageous headlines, and talk incessantly about the shooter and his motives. These create an incentive to inspire copy-cats.
  • Abuse
    The Big Truth wrote...
    Sad
    July 20, 2012 7:49 am
    Looks like I'm bringing my .45 to the moves this weekend. Last thing anyone needs is a copycat loser trying this while I'm casually eating my popcorn watching a comic book movie. If 1 person in that theatre had been armed, countless lives could have been saved. An armed society, is a polite society. Criminals target the weak and unarmed. It must have been like shooting fish in a barrel......
  • Abuse
    janieranier wrote...
    WHY is that blonde gal smiling?
    July 20, 2012 7:50 am
    This is NOT funny! If you look ahead a few pages, a blonde girl (looks like the same girl with a different shirt) is looking down at the ground with a SMILE. What the heck !!
  • Abuse
    janieranier wrote...
    See the blonde smiling?
    July 20, 2012 7:52 am
    She is looking down at the ground with a SMILE. On the main photo (with two people hugging) another girl that looks a LOT like this one, is smiling. This is NOT funny!! What the heck !!
  • Abuse
    JonF wrote...
    Yeah Big Truth...
    July 20, 2012 9:07 am
    It really is to bad you or some other gun nut wasn't there to protect everyone. You truly are the hero America deserves but not the one it needs. Sigh.
  • Abuse
    coloradoson wrote...
    Wouldn't have mattered
    July 20, 2012 10:06 am
    Aurora police are saying that this guy wore ballistic protection including a helmet, vest, and leggings. You could have unloaded your entire clip and it wouldn't have made a difference.
    “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Abuse
    The Big Truth wrote...
    Soooooo,
    July 20, 2012 10:06 am
    Because I carry a gun, I'm a gun nut now?? I'd rather have it, and not need it, then need it, and not have it.
  • Abuse
    JonF wrote...
    Not necessarily.
    July 20, 2012 10:26 am
    Its the delusions of grandeur that seems to be so common in the concealed carry crowd that is a bit of a red flag. That, and trotting out tired cliches like "an armed society is a polite society."
  • Abuse
    OneWonders wrote...
    Yes Big Truth
    July 20, 2012 10:33 am
    just because you carry a gun makes you a gun nut. What kinds of idiots make comments like that any way? Well besides JonF. Responsible citizens practicing their constitutional right to bare arms does not make you a gun nut. And I hope you have a good shot cause it would have taken an impressive shot to miss all the body armor on this idiot of a shooter to take him down.
    Equal Justice, Not Social Justice.
  • Abuse
    gordogalindo wrote...
    I'm sure
    July 20, 2012 10:35 am
    Holmes will be tied to OWS.........they're nothing but Anti American lunatics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, my niece went there and was indoctrinated to hate the United States, among others that I've spoken with.

Latest Arizona Stories

Related Links

Ask About An Advertiser

Most Popular

The Lasso Posts