Accused Colorado gunman to plead not guilty by insanity
Accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes, who could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering 12 moviegoers in a rampage last year, intends to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, Reuters reported, citing court records released on Tuesday.
Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the July 2012 shooting spree in a suburban Denver cinema during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises."
The attack, which along with last year's Connecticut school rampage helped reignite a national debate on gun control, ranks as one of the nation's deadliest mass shootings. Seventy people were wounded in addition to the 12 who were killed.
The court filing by Holmes' public defenders said he intended to enter the plea at a hearing on May 13, but the lawyers continued to object to the constitutionality of the state's insanity defense law.
A judge entered a standard not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf at a hearing in March.
Holmes' lawyers previously sought to have the state's insanity defense law declared unconstitutional, arguing that it could require Holmes to divulge information that could be used against him at trial and at sentencing if there is a conviction.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester said in March that if Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, pursued an insanity defense he could be given "medically appropriate" drugs during psychiatric interviews and possibly face a polygraph test.
Prosecutors have depicted Holmes as a young man whose once promising academic career was in tatters after he failed graduate school oral board exams in June, prompting one of his professors to suggest he might not be a good fit for his doctoral program.
Newsfeed
Videos
Artur Vanetsyan: I think you'll see me more often at various events in future
