'Trial of the Century': Killer's sanity in question as Holmes case begins in Colorado

More than 1,000 days after James Holmes opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, killing 12 and wounding 70, the onetime University of Colorado neuroscience student’s murder trial was set to get under way Monday.

Holmes, 27, who could face the death penalty if convicted, does not dispute carrying out the shootings at the midnight screening of the Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His taxpayer-funded attorneys are expected to lay the groundwork for the insanity defense in opening arguments today in Arapahoe County court, while prosecutors will seek to paint Holmes as a killer who knew what he was doing.

Neither District Attorney George Brauchler nor lead defense attorney Daniel King and attorney Katherine Spengler will have an easy task.

“It’s the only thing anyone here is talking about.”
- Prof. Nancy Leong, University of Denver College of Law

"There's no such thing as someone snapping," said J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, who is not involved in the Holmes case. "What we know now is that even if a person is psychotic, they can still plan and methodically go about the preparations to carry out a mass murder."

The attack occurred at 12:30 a.m. on July 20, 2012, when the California native burst into the Century 16 theater dressed in black body armor and a gas mask. As stunned moviegoers watched, some reportedly thinking they were witnessing a prank connected to the film, Holmes set off tear gas grenades and began firing into the audience with an arsenal that included a 12-gauge shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle and a Glock 22 40-caliber handgun.

By 12:45, police had arrested Holmes, who was found next to his car which was parked behind the cinema. They later determined Holmes had bought a ticket and sat in the front row before sneaking out an emergency exit 20 minutes into the film. He left the door propped open with a piece of plastic, and returned to wreak carnage.

Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all 166 murder, attempted murder and other charges in the attack. His attorneys maintain he was "in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed the acts," but prosecutors said the crime was so intentionally heinous it deserves the death penalty. Two court-ordered psychiatric exams that could determine the verdict were withheld from the public.

On Monday, Holmes arrived at court wearing glasses, a blue and white-striped shirt and khaki pants. His hair was closely cropped, and his appearance was in sharp contrast to that of earlier procedures, when he was brought to court in his state-issue orange jumpsuit and wore his beard and hair long and unkempt. He appeared alert as he chatted with his legal team, read documents and even flashed an occasional smile as Judge Carlos Samour spoke to attorneys and ruled on last-minute motions prior to the opening arguments, which were to begin at noon local time. Holmes' parents and uncle were on hand and sat quietly throughout this morning's proceedings.

Few of the actual details in the case are expected to be disputed at trial. Instead, lawyers for the defense and prosecution will pore over Holmes’ behavior leading up to the rampage, each trying to prove their theory about his mental state.

Holmes’ downward spiral prior to the shooting is well-documented. His graduate studies in neuroscience had fallen apart, and he had told a classmate he wanted to kill people, prosecutors say.  He had stopped seeing his psychiatrist, then sent her text messages so threatening that she alerted University of Colorado campus police. He even mailed her his journal, in a package with burned $20 bills.

In his apartment, which police found booby-trapped with explosives, he stockpiled weapons, more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition, tear gas grenades and riot gear.

Whether these details prove he was insane or knew exactly what he was doing will be for a jury -- chosen from a record pool of more than 9,000 -- to decide.

Prosecutors say the meticulous plotting shows Holmes was deliberate and calculated, and that evidence suggests he knew right from wrong. For example, Holmes searched online for "rational insanity," and took haunting selfies the night of the shooting, sticking out his tongue and smiling with a Glock under his face.

"He didn't care who he killed or how many he killed, because he wanted to kill all of them," prosecutor Karen Pearson said.

University of Denver Sturm College of Law Professor Nancy Leong said the Holmes case is “the trial of the century” for the Centennial State, and added that all of her students are following it closely.

“It’s the only thing anyone here is talking about,” said Leong, who teaches criminal and constitutional law. “I can’t remember the last time we had a trial this big.”

An interesting aspect of the case that lends itself to law school lessons is the fact that Colorado is rare among states in that the burden in an insanity defense rests with the state, not the defense. Holmes does not have to prove he was insane at the time of the shooting; the state must prove that he wasn’t.

“That could make a difference in jury deliberations,” Leong said.

Holmes’ mother, Arlene Holmes, is grappling with the same questions that will soon face the jury. In a recently published book of poems and reflections, she asked what happened to her son.

"What the hell happened?" Arlene Holmes writes in one poem. "How can the kid who read about the 'Berenstain Bears' and Jon Stewart's 'Earth' and 'Uncle John's Bathroom Reader,' how could he change?"