James Holmes is charged in the shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre that killed 12 people and wounded 52.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Self-portraits taken with a cellphone less than
seven hours before the mass shooting in an Aurora theater show suspect
James Holmes grinning, sticking his tongue out, wearing black contact
lenses and holding a Glock handgun and an assault rifle, prosecutors
said Wednesday.
The evidence was introduced on the third and final
day of what was to be a five-day preliminary hearing to determine
whether there is enough evidence to try Holmes on more than 160 counts
of murder and attempted murder.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case
saying there was enough evidence to warrant a trial. Holmes' defense
attorney, Dan King, who had planned to call witnesses who would have
testified to Holmes' mental state, told the judge that he wasn't calling
anyone.
"This is neither the proper venue nor time to put on a
show or a truncated defense," he said, adding "we are at a probable
cause hearing."
Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 57 during the July 20 theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.
Besides
the self-portraits, another series of photos from Holmes' cellphone
showed he paced out the outside of the theater and took pictures of some
of the rear exit doors. Police allege Holmes entered the theater for
the movie, left through a rear exit door that he had blocked open, and
then re-entered the theater through that door where he started shooting.
Arapahoe County prosecutor Karen Pearson said the photos "go to identity, deliberation and extreme indifference."
One
photo seized by authorities after Holmes' arrest shows an array of
tactical gear and assault weapons laying on his bed in his apartment.
The
photos were taken between June 29, about three weeks before the
shooting, and July 19 at 6:22 p.m. and 6:25 p.m., hours before the
midnight showing of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises.
Judge
William Sylvester scheduled a status hearing on the case for Friday,
but court officials said he could rule on a trial before then.
The
hearing started on Monday with dramatic testimony from police officers
who arrived on the scene of the shooting and found Holmes standing by
his car at the rear of the theater "completely compliant," wearing in
soft body armor, a gas mask and a helmet.
One officer, Justin Grizzle, described in emotional detail driving six shooting victims to the hospital on four separate trips.
"There was so much blood," he recalled. "I could hear it sloshing around in the back of my car."
On
Tuesday, an FBI technician testified about how Holmes rigged his
apartment with homemade bombs that would destroy his building when
accidentally tripped from the outside, creating a diversion from the
shootings at the movie theater.
Throughout the hearing victims of
the massacre and families of those who died in the shooting were in the
courtroom or an adjacent hearing room set up for people to watch the
proceeding.
"She doesn't want to see him," said Sam Soudari, the
father of Farrah Soudari, 23, who lost a kidney and spleen from an
exploding grenade and was in the hearing room. "Part of me wants to rip
his head off - but you see him sitting there and (he) just seems
lifeless," Sam Soudari said.
USA Today