US judge accepts insanity plea over theater shooting

CENTENNIAL (AFP) — A US judge on Tuesday accepted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity by James Holmes, the man accused of shooting dead 12 people and wounding dozens in a Colorado theater last year.

Judge Carlos Samour accepted the plea after reading out a list of conditions, including that the 25-year-old agree to undergo a court-ordered “sanity examination.”

The tests, to determine if Holmes is indeed insane, will likely take several months. Prosecutors say complex preparations he allegedly made before the shootings show that he knew exactly what he was doing, and that it was wrong.

Holmes is accused of wounding another 70 people when he allegedly opened fire last July in a packed midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in the Colorado town of Aurora, outside Denver.

The trial judge initially entered a straight “not guilty” plea on Holmes’s behalf in March, when lawyers for Holmes said they were not yet ready to enter a plea.

At a new hearing in May, Holmes’s court-appointed attorney Daniel King said he was willing to enter an insanity plea, but the judge said he would not yet formally accept the change of plea.

In court on Tuesday, the judge read out an five-page, 18-point advisement which defined the applicable test for insanity, and listed what was required of Holmes and his lawyers.

After reading the advisement, the judge asked Holmes if he had any questions, and the accused replied: “No.”

The judge ordered Holmes to be sent to the Colorado State Mental Institute in Pueblo, Colorado. He will likely be moved there from jail in a matter of weeks, and could stay there for a month or two.

The judge said there was “no doubt on the part of the defense attorneys as to Holmes’ ability to understand the proceedings.”

Witnesses said Holmes threw smoke bomb-type devices before opening fire in the theater with weapons including an AR-15 military-style rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .40-caliber pistol.