Cinema massacre accused likely to plead insanity

Prosecutors were expected to finish presenting their case to a Colorado judge last night in the preliminary hearing of a former graduate student who is charged with shooting 12 people to death and wounding 58 others in a movie theatre last summer.

The proceedings will now be turned over to lawyers for accused gunman James Holmes, who went out of their way this week in cross- examination of witnesses to highlight strange behaviour exhibited by their client before and after his arrest.

Should Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester order the case to proceed to trial, legal experts believe Holmes will plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

His lawyers have said he suffers from an unspecified mental illness and are expected to call two witnesses to testify about his state of mind around the time of the massacre, which ranks among the deadliest mass shootings in US history.

Homicide detective Craig Appel acknowledged under defence cross-examination that Holmes tried to insert a staple he found on a desktop into an electrical outlet during an initial interrogation at police headquarters.

During that interview, in which Holmes had plastic bags placed over his hands to preserve any traces of gunpowder residue, Holmes also gestured with one of the bags as if it were a talking hand puppet, Appel said.

Asked why blood samples were not taken of Holmes following his arrest, even though police officers noted that his pupils appeared to be extremely dilated, Appel added: “I saw no indication that he was under the influence of anything.”

The former University of Colorado neuroscience doctoral student is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from the Jul 20 rampage at a midnight screening of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

The first three days of the preliminary hearing focused on evidence presented by prosecutors seeking to convince the judge they have sufficient evidence to put Holmes, 25, on trial.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

For the public, the hearing has laid bare many details authorities have refused to divulge, or were prohibited from disclosing under a strict gag order imposed by the judge.

Police and paramedics also described encountering a nightmarish, bloody scene inside the darkened cinema, where dozens of victims lay sprawled across the auditorium as the Batman film continued to play and emergency-alarm strobe lights flashed.

Policeman Justin Grizzle described the smell of tear gas wafting through the air, as more than 200 bullet casings and magazines littered the floor.

Grizzle saw popcorn caked in blood and heard the eerie sound of mobile phones ringing unanswered in the background.