Newly released Arapahoe County District Court documents show that the alleged Colorado movie shooter, James Holmes sent a series of text messages to an unidentified fellow Ph.D. student. However, the content of the text has been redacted as well as the identity of the recipient.
Never the less, the text message might help prosecution in proving that the attack was premeditated. Holmes and his defense attorney Daniel King have not yet made a plea, but it is likely that he will plea not-guilty on account of insanity. King has already said that his client suffers from an undisclosed mental illness.
The documents released indicate, according to prosecutors, that the 24-year-old made threats to a professor at the University of Colorado weeks before he opened fire in an Aurora movie theater killing 12 and seriously injuring 58 others.
Prosecutors claim that that after the alleged incident, the university "denied (him) access to campus as a result of these actions," as reported by NBC News.
Defense denies all accusations stating that Holmes was denied access to campus only because he withdrew from the program.
The documents released on the order of Judge William Sylvester also reveal that Holmes is 5'11 and weighs 150 pounds. His birthday is on December 13. The bulk of documents have been heavily redacted. Crucial information such as the arrest warrant, subpoena, identities of victims & witnesses, et al. has all been blocked from the public.
Initially both prosecutors and defense object to the decision citing that it might interfere with ongoing investigations. A large part of the documents being released to the public is with regards to Holmes relationship with and confessions to the university psychiatrist Lynne Fenton, including the infamous diary, which supposedly contains details about the attack in the words of Holmes.
The judge said as reported by NBC News, "The statutes of the General Assembly, and those of Congress, and the Constitution of the United States, are designed to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. They cannot be construed as to prevent [redacted]from sharing with appropriate individuals' information necessary to secure the safety - or even the life - of the [redacted]. They cannot be construed to allow an individual to make threats against the safety of the community and at the same time, prohibit the recipient of such threats from acting on them. [Redacted portion.][W]hile the Constitution protects against invasions of individual rights, it is not a suicide pact."
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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