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14 dead, 50 injured by lone gunman in Batman premiere in Colorado

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  • 4 months later...
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dark-knight-shooting-judge-allows-562547

 

A Colorado judge has allowed James Holmes to change his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity.

 

I find Mr. Holmes understands the effects and consequences of the not guilty by reason of insanity plea,” Judge Carlos Samour Jr. said, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. “He was looking at the advisement and appeared to be following along.”

 

Holmes, 24, is facing 116 counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges stemming from the July 20 massacre that took the lives of 12 and injured 70 more at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

 

A series of mental health tests will now decide if Holmes, a former neuroscience doctoral student the University of Colorado-Denver, was so ill last July as to have been incapable of judging between right and wrong. The evaluation is expected to take months.

 

If found not guilty by a jury by reason of insanity, Holmes would be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital. If found guilty, a penalty phase will ensue, with the decision falling to the jury as to whether or not Holmes will face the death penalty.

 

A death penalty verdict could result in appeals that could take years to resolve.

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