Colo. shooting suspect appears in court with red-orange hair
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - His hair dyed a shocking comic-book shade of orange-red, the former doctoral student accused of killing moviegoers at a showing of the new Batman movie appeared in court for the first time on Monday, but he didn't seem to be there at all.
James Holmes shuffled into court in a maroon jailhouse jumpsuit with his hands cuffed - the first look the world got of the 24-year-old since the Friday shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 others injured at a packed midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."
Unshaven and appearing dazed, Holmes sat virtually motionless during the hearing, his eyes drooping as the judge advised him of the severity of the case. At one point, Holmes simply closed his eyes. Prosecutors said they didn't know if he was being medicated.
Throughout the hearing, he never said a word. His attorneys did all the talking when the judge asked him if he understood his rights.
His demeanor, however, angered the relatives of some of the victims of the shooting. Some stared at him the entire hearing, including Tom Teves, whose son, Alex, was killed in the attack. Teves watched Holmes intently, sizing him up.
"I saw the coward in court today and Alex could have wiped the floor with him without breaking a sweat," said Teves, whose son, a physical therapist, dove to protect his girlfriend.
"You shot a 6-year-old. Come on give me a break. You're dressed in full combat gear, immediately surrender. Come on. Pick on some guys who know how to use guns," Teves said.
The hearing was the first confirmation that Holmes' hair was colored. On Friday, there were reports of his hair being red and that he told arresting officers that he was "The Joker." Batman's nemesis in the fictional Gotham has brightly colored hair.
It could not immediately be confirmed if he told officers that he was Batman's enemy, however.
Investigators found a Batman mask inside his apartment after they finished clearing it of booby traps, a law enforcement official close to the investigation said Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Holmes, whom police say donned body armor and was armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and handguns during the attack, was arrested shortly afterward. He is refusing to cooperate, authorities said. They said it could take months to identify a motive.
Holmes, who is being held in isolation at the Arapahoe County detention facility, walked into the courtroom with attorneys and others. He sat down in a jury box, next to one of his attorneys.
His entrance was barely noticeable but relatives of shooting victims leaned forward in their seats to catch their first glimpse of him. Two women held hands tightly, one shook her head. One woman's eyes welled up with tears.
After the hearing, prosecutor Carol Chambers said that "at this point, everyone is interested in a fair trial with a just outcome for everybody involved." Chambers said earlier her office is considering pursuing the death penalty against Holmes.
Chambers said a decision will be made in consultation with the victims' families.
David Sanchez, who waited outside the courthouse during Holmes' hearing, said his pregnant daughter escaped uninjured but her husband was shot in the head and was in critical condition. His daughter was scheduled to deliver her baby on Monday.
"When it's your own daughter and she escaped death by mere seconds, I want to say it makes you angry," Sanchez said. He said his daughter, 21-year-old Katie Medley, and her husband, Caleb, 23, had been waiting for a year to watch the movie.
Asked what punishment Holmes should get if he is convicted, Sanchez said, "I think death is."
At a news conference in San Diego, where Holmes' family lives, their lawyer, Lisa Damiani, refused to answer questions about him and his relationship to the family. She said later: "Everyone's concerned" about the possibility of the death penalty.
When asked if they stood by Holmes, Damiani said, "Yes they do. He's their son."
Holmes is expected to be formally charged next Monday. Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and he could also face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations. Holmes has been assigned a public defender.
Security at the hearing was tight. Uniformed sheriff's deputies were stationed outside, and deputies were positioned on the roofs of both court buildings.
Police have said Holmes began buying guns at Denver-area stores nearly two months before Friday's shooting and that he received at least 50 packages in four months at his home and at school.
Holmes' apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices and unknown liquids, requiring police, FBI officials and bomb squad technicians to evacuate surrounding buildings while spending most of Saturday disabling the booby traps.
Weeks before, Holmes quit a 35-student Ph.D. program in neuroscience for reasons that aren't clear. He had earlier taken an intense oral exam that marks the end of the first year but University of Colorado Denver officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.
At a news conference, university officials refused to answer questions about Holmes. "To the best of our knowledge at this point, we think we did everything that we should have done," Donald Elliman, the university chancellor.
Officials also said the school received two suspicious packages Monday. The first package arrived early in the morning and was slipped under the door at a campus building while it was mostly empty. People were not allowed into the building until the threat was cleared.
The second package was addressed to a person in a separate building and came to the school's central mail facility.
Also in June, the owner of a gun range in Byers rejected Holmes' membership application of a "bizarre - guttural, freakish" message on Holmes' voicemail.
As authorities continued to investigate Holmes, Sunday was a day for healing and remembrance in Aurora, with the community holding a prayer vigil and President Barack Obama telling victims' families that "all of America and much of the world is thinking about them."
The pastor for the suspect's family recalled a shy boy who was driven to succeed academically.
"He wasn't an extrovert at all. If there was any conversation, it would be because I initiated it, not because he did," said Jerald Borgie, senior pastor of Penasquitos Lutheran Church. Borgie said he never saw the suspect mingle with others his age at church.
"He had some goals. He wanted to succeed, he wanted to go out, and he wanted to be the best," said Borgie, noting that last spoke with Holmes about six years ago. "He took pride in his academic abilities. A good student. He didn't brag about it."
The shooting was the worst in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others.
James Holmes shuffled into court in a maroon jailhouse jumpsuit with his hands cuffed - the first look the world got of the 24-year-old since the Friday shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 others injured at a packed midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."
Unshaven and appearing dazed, Holmes sat virtually motionless during the hearing, his eyes drooping as the judge advised him of the severity of the case. At one point, Holmes simply closed his eyes. Prosecutors said they didn't know if he was being medicated.
Throughout the hearing, he never said a word. His attorneys did all the talking when the judge asked him if he understood his rights.
His demeanor, however, angered the relatives of some of the victims of the shooting. Some stared at him the entire hearing, including Tom Teves, whose son, Alex, was killed in the attack. Teves watched Holmes intently, sizing him up.
"I saw the coward in court today and Alex could have wiped the floor with him without breaking a sweat," said Teves, whose son, a physical therapist, dove to protect his girlfriend.
"You shot a 6-year-old. Come on give me a break. You're dressed in full combat gear, immediately surrender. Come on. Pick on some guys who know how to use guns," Teves said.
The hearing was the first confirmation that Holmes' hair was colored. On Friday, there were reports of his hair being red and that he told arresting officers that he was "The Joker." Batman's nemesis in the fictional Gotham has brightly colored hair.
It could not immediately be confirmed if he told officers that he was Batman's enemy, however.
Investigators found a Batman mask inside his apartment after they finished clearing it of booby traps, a law enforcement official close to the investigation said Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.
Holmes, whom police say donned body armor and was armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and handguns during the attack, was arrested shortly afterward. He is refusing to cooperate, authorities said. They said it could take months to identify a motive.
Holmes, who is being held in isolation at the Arapahoe County detention facility, walked into the courtroom with attorneys and others. He sat down in a jury box, next to one of his attorneys.
His entrance was barely noticeable but relatives of shooting victims leaned forward in their seats to catch their first glimpse of him. Two women held hands tightly, one shook her head. One woman's eyes welled up with tears.
After the hearing, prosecutor Carol Chambers said that "at this point, everyone is interested in a fair trial with a just outcome for everybody involved." Chambers said earlier her office is considering pursuing the death penalty against Holmes.
Chambers said a decision will be made in consultation with the victims' families.
David Sanchez, who waited outside the courthouse during Holmes' hearing, said his pregnant daughter escaped uninjured but her husband was shot in the head and was in critical condition. His daughter was scheduled to deliver her baby on Monday.
"When it's your own daughter and she escaped death by mere seconds, I want to say it makes you angry," Sanchez said. He said his daughter, 21-year-old Katie Medley, and her husband, Caleb, 23, had been waiting for a year to watch the movie.
Asked what punishment Holmes should get if he is convicted, Sanchez said, "I think death is."
At a news conference in San Diego, where Holmes' family lives, their lawyer, Lisa Damiani, refused to answer questions about him and his relationship to the family. She said later: "Everyone's concerned" about the possibility of the death penalty.
When asked if they stood by Holmes, Damiani said, "Yes they do. He's their son."
Holmes is expected to be formally charged next Monday. Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and he could also face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations. Holmes has been assigned a public defender.
Security at the hearing was tight. Uniformed sheriff's deputies were stationed outside, and deputies were positioned on the roofs of both court buildings.
Police have said Holmes began buying guns at Denver-area stores nearly two months before Friday's shooting and that he received at least 50 packages in four months at his home and at school.
Holmes' apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices and unknown liquids, requiring police, FBI officials and bomb squad technicians to evacuate surrounding buildings while spending most of Saturday disabling the booby traps.
Weeks before, Holmes quit a 35-student Ph.D. program in neuroscience for reasons that aren't clear. He had earlier taken an intense oral exam that marks the end of the first year but University of Colorado Denver officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.
At a news conference, university officials refused to answer questions about Holmes. "To the best of our knowledge at this point, we think we did everything that we should have done," Donald Elliman, the university chancellor.
Officials also said the school received two suspicious packages Monday. The first package arrived early in the morning and was slipped under the door at a campus building while it was mostly empty. People were not allowed into the building until the threat was cleared.
The second package was addressed to a person in a separate building and came to the school's central mail facility.
Also in June, the owner of a gun range in Byers rejected Holmes' membership application of a "bizarre - guttural, freakish" message on Holmes' voicemail.
As authorities continued to investigate Holmes, Sunday was a day for healing and remembrance in Aurora, with the community holding a prayer vigil and President Barack Obama telling victims' families that "all of America and much of the world is thinking about them."
The pastor for the suspect's family recalled a shy boy who was driven to succeed academically.
"He wasn't an extrovert at all. If there was any conversation, it would be because I initiated it, not because he did," said Jerald Borgie, senior pastor of Penasquitos Lutheran Church. Borgie said he never saw the suspect mingle with others his age at church.
"He had some goals. He wanted to succeed, he wanted to go out, and he wanted to be the best," said Borgie, noting that last spoke with Holmes about six years ago. "He took pride in his academic abilities. A good student. He didn't brag about it."
The shooting was the worst in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others.
The whole thing sounds really strange to me. How does a introverted brainiac kinda guy suddenly become some crazed killer? If he was a full time student (and I've read he was on unemployment as far as his income), how was he able to afford all these weapons? The price of one shotgun and one handgun would be at least $500, and he had several? What about the bullet proof vest, helmet, explosives, etc? This stuff has gotta be expensive, not to mention some of this stuff would be incredibly difficult to get in the first place! And when exactly did he learn how to booby trap his apartment with explosives so that it was considered complicated and took a day to make safe? When/where did he have that level of training and expertise?
Without answers to these questions I'm of the mind that the whole deal is a SET UP . Doesn't surprise me one bit the kid in court doesnt seem to even be there.
Was his hair red/orange when he commited the crime? If so, how is hair-color headline-worthy? And if not, how did he get a dye job while in custody??Â
 "On Friday, there were reports of his hair being red and that he told arresting officers that he was "The Joker."
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You don't really think the first order of business for jail staff in charge of accused mass murderers is to fill special requests for beauty products, do you?
KOMO appears to be very quick to move this off the front section I see. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact Holmes used 26K in FEDERAL GRANT MONEY TO BUY GUNS!!!.
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ditto dlschoen1
July 23rd - Evening- "AURORA, Colo. (AP) â University of Colorado officials refused to release any significant details Monday on their yearlong association with James Holmes, the former neuroscience graduate student accused of killing 12 people at a midnight movie in Aurora."
"The school's silence has heightened the mystery surrounding Holmes, whom friends and acquaintances in his native California described as smart and reserved. After graduating from the University of California-Riverside, Holmes enrolled in the competitive graduate neuroscience program in June 2011. He won winning a prestigious National Institutes of Health grant that paid a $26,000 stipend in addition to tuition."
Holmes, 24, resigned without explanation from the program June 10, the university said on Sunday.""Shur did say that Holmes left blank a line on a form in which he would give a reason for his departure. Department officials encouraged him to fill it out, but he didn't return the paperwork, Shur said."
"This is a family. It's a team-building, family environment," Shur said. "(Professors) are very much in contact with the students in the program ... especially any student who might have academic or other difficulties," he said.
If professors have concerns about a student's well-being, Shur said, "we would expect faculty to reach out to support services."
Some more info on the UK gun ban.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1440764.stm
Here's a little information for you anti-gun folks. Research the UK gun ban.Â
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"How has that UK gun ban been working?
In the four years from 1997 to 2001, the rate of violent crime more than doubled. Your chances of being mugged in London are now six times greater than in New York. England's rates of assault, robbery, and burglary are far higher than America's. 53 percent of English burglaries occur while occupants are at home, compared with 13 percent in the U.S., where burglars admit to fearing armed homeowners more than the police."
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It's a wonderful place to live since disarming the citizens. The bad guys can beat your door down and it is basically against the law to defend yourself.
This man wanted to kill a lot of people fast. IF all guns were banned and he had no access to them he still had the means to kill. His entire apartment was rigged with devices to kill. He knew how to make bombs!! So if you are going to outlaw guns then also include home-made bombs!! Do you anti-gun folks see how ridiculous this is??!!
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He wanted to kill - guns have nothing to do with it!
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Heck this nut could just as easily have driven his car/truck into a crowd of people! (ban cars and trucks then...?)
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Just a theory, but this guy is a neuroscience major, and one of the top students. In neuorscience they study abnormal brain activities and such. Is it possible that either the university put him in some kind of experiment, or maybe he did it himself, that would cause him to go off in an alternative reality? Just seems so Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde to me.
Enjoy going into the general population of the prison once you are convicted and sentenced to death or life w/o parole.
Amazing that the same people who will defend the right to allow crazy people to own guns used in these massacres are always upset at the violence shown on TV and the movies. How ironic!
 @Socialjusticeforall Name one person or group that defends a crazy person's right to own a gun. You can't. State some facts.
 @JT To people like Socialjusticeforall (what the heck is social justice anyway?), everyone is crazy--except, of course, the millions of armed government agents (military, federal, state, local) who never go crazy or rogue because government never would entrust them with a firearm. It is just the peasants who need to be watched closely--the elite and their watchdogs, not so much.
 @Socialjusticeforall Nobody defends the rights of crazy people to own guns. Background checks are always run on someone who wants to purchase a firearm. If someone with a bad history gets their hands on a gun, it's because they purchased it illegally...and if someone purchases a gun illegally, they are going to get it no matter how many strict gun laws you impose.
I do have some understanding of the "lonely guy" , as I am one myself. Â Sometimes I can get frustrated with people and the way they treat me and it can make me angry sometimes, but never to the point of crossing the line...Seems like somewhere Mr. Holmes lost his ability to be social and also, I believe he let every single little negative interaction get to him...and then he crossed the line into hell...
Where are these figures, 10k and 16-20k of equipment coming from? Media spin I assume? Please do a little research people. Everything he had; weapons, ammo, clothing, and tear gas can be had for around 5k and that's figuring paying the new price of the weapons. Not too hard to come up with in a period of 4-6 months.
We have created and therefore accepted a society with guns and more guns. The defenders of the right to bear arms are so powerful that tragedy after tragedy is not important enough to convince them of gun control. So, we will continue to live in fear of being killed by anyone out there. The US is the "Wild West" as described by the rest of the world.Â
 @Socialjusticeforall No, YOU will continue to live in fear of being killed by anyone out there. Strange fear you have, when it's far more likely that you'd be killed by some method other than a gun. Car wreck for instance. You've got a much higher chance of being killed by a drunk driver. Do you fear cars? Booze? People in bars, or in bar parking lots?
 @Socialjusticeforall funny. Plenty of people are trying to immigrate from Russia, which has a higher murder rate than the USA yet the vast majority of private citizens cannot own guns. Same for Mexico and Brazil.Â
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As for living in fear, I am concerned about home invaders and gang-bangers playing knockout games than individual lunatics.
 @Socialjusticeforall Fine, are you volunteering to go house to house to collect everyone's guns and take them to the scrap heap?
Sign me up!
 @Socialjusticeforall Don't you need a brown shirt when you do that?
 @Socialjusticeforall I afraid you and all the other anti gun wackos suffer from Hoplophobia,( Irrational, morbid fear of guns, may cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, nondescript fears, more, at mere thought of guns. Presence of working firearms may cause panic attack. Hoplophobe, hoplophobic.) But you know what there is a cure, I'll take you to the range and show you that guns are not scary but loads of fun.
@KittySmasher @Socialjusticeforall "I afraid you and all the other pro gun wackos suffer from Hoplophobia,( Irrational, morbid fear of not having guns, may cause sweating, faintness, discomfort, rapid pulse, nausea, sleeplessness, nondescript fears, more, at mere thought of no guns. Presence of non-working firearms may cause panic attack. Hoplophobe, hoplophobic.) But you know what there is a cure, I'll take you out in the public without a gun and show how to live without the fear being unarmed"
This comment has been deleted
How is being against ownership of guns being insensitive? I would think the pro gun vigilante types are being insensitive. As far as politicizing this tragedy, all I've heard are the pro gun groups saying people kill people, guns don't. Bahahaha! How many deaths due to firearms are accidental shootings? More than intentional shootings between gangs? That would be interesting data to have in hand. My pro-gun acquaintance said if he had been at that theater and was armed, he could've taken out Holmes. I asked him if he could in a panic? He said, "well, it would be difficult, especially a moving target". I asked him if the possibly of shooting innocent people as they run for their lives was more of a possibility than killing the killer. He agreed with me.
 @glamdring2012 Here have some facts
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PoliticalInsider/167107
and
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html
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Republicans BLAMING THE VICTIMS.Â
Because conservatives are too busy projecting to actually think before they open their ignorant mouths.
@glamdring2012 @>T H I S< That is funny, becuase for the past few days, I have heard alot of assumptions about what the liberals are GOING to do. One wrote, "I'm waiting for them to ban the 2nd amendment", sorry, that is insane talk. The 2nd is not going anywhere. The NRA is working on arming every citizen in this country by convincing them they need to protevt themselves. In a country where you have a better chance of getting shot by a family member either purposely or accidently. Actually there has been more talk from the right on this subject. To say people kill people not guns and that the "JOKER" bought the guns legally -that is insensitive.
 @>T H I S< The only people who are being insensitive here are the liberals who are trying to politicize this tragedy in an attempt to feed their anti-gun agenda.
man...he looks dazed and confused
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I think he has planned on soft cushy justice.
Complete loony tunes
Maybe he's trying to channel Carrottop???
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We need a Caught in the Act law, where if you are caught in the act of shooting people you can be put down on the spot. Or at least have a 5 minute trial and then get wheeled to the gas chamber, or better yet in his case, a firing squad.
This guy was a PhD candidate, he had to have had all of his faculties about him. The guy was dressed head to toe in body armor, went into a movie theater that is essentially set up like a Shooting Gallery, with stadium like seats, he knew exactly what he was doing, he should not be able to plead an insanity case.
 @backinmyday There was no body armor he just had a tactical vest on, bunch of pockets for stuff.
 @backinmyday Insanity also deals with impulse control. He could claim he knew it was wrong, but was compelled to do it anyway. There seem to always be alot of legal-ese to get this done. Hopefully his court appointed atty is fresh out of law school....
 @backinmyday Completely right. He knew what he was doing, he thought this out well in advance. Of course he is nuts, but it is no excuse. He was rational enough to carry out a plan.
In other news----Ichiro jus' got traded to the Yankees.
A past mass murderer--Charles Joseph Whitman--turned out to have a brain tumor that very likely may have caused his behavior. I suggest we dissect this man's brain to find out if he has a similar tumor. Do it for science!
10 cents... that's all we need to spend on this guy. If he's guilty - I'll even cover it.
I know it's irrelevant, but the Joker doesn't have red / orange / yellow hair. His hair is green. Just wanted to point out that this story is wrong when it says the Joker has "brightly colored hair". Just sayin'.
This clown must have been going for Ronald McDonald.
By the time they put the side show/trial to rest----the'll be 50 other tragedies and nobody will even remember this doldt.
 @SandyBeach I'm thinking the families of the victims will remember him for the rest of their lives.
He looks like his attorney.
 @Hehateme I'd say closer to old school days of Scott Weiland
How so? Does she look like the Cat Woman and they're teaming up to fight the good guys?
BS. His attorney told him to look stupid so they can claim insanity, and the clown can spend the rest of his life in a mental institution instead of dying in a electric chair. He's not crazy. He orchestrated a well thought out plan. Give him his constitutional hearing, than fry him.
When did this joker have time to color his hair like the Joker?
 @Koawoodplayer He didn't. The Joker has green hair.