DENVER -- The lead police investigator
is expected to take the stand Thursday as prosecutors make their case
for why they should have access to a notebook sent by the Colorado
shooting suspect to a university psychiatrist that purportedly contains
descriptions of a violent attack.
Prosecutors
on Aug. 30 suffered a setback in obtaining the notebook when Arapahoe
County District Judge William B. Sylvester ruled that they could not
disprove a doctor-patient relationship between suspect James Holmes and
University of Colorado psychiatrist Lynne Fenton.
Defense
attorneys say Holmes is mentally ill and sought Fenton's help.
Sylvester rejected prosecutor arguments that a doctor-patient
relationship ended June 11, the last time Fenton saw Holmes. Holmes has
been charged with 142 counts including murder and attempted murder
stemming from the July 20 attack at an Aurora theater that killed 12 and
wounded 58 others.
A court register of case
actions indicated Wednesday that prosecutors are seeking now to add 10
more counts against Holmes and amend 17 others, but it didn't disclose
details and a judge has issued a gag order limiting what information
lawyers can publicly disclose in the case.
In
their quest to obtain Holmes' notebook, prosecutors are arguing that it
and its contents are fair game because Holmes wasn't to undergo therapy
because he planned to be dead or in prison after the shootings rampage
at an opening night showing of The Dark Night Rises.
Chief
Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson didn't explain in court Aug. 30
why she believed Holmes could have planned to be dead, but she pointed
to a dating site where Holmes asked if he would be visited in prison.
"He intended to be dead or in prison after this shooting," Pearson said last month.
To
bolster arguments set for Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman
told Sylvester that Aurora police major crimes Detective Craig Appel,
the lead investigator, and Detective Tom Welton, an investigator in the
case would testify Thursday.
Orman said in
court that Appel will testify that Holmes did the shooting, that he
bought a ticket at the theater, took a seat, then walked out of an
emergency exit, propping the door open so he could come back and do the
shooting. Orman said Welton will testify that it was Holmes who posted
profiles on Match.com and AdultFriendFinder.com before the shooting with
the tagline, "Will you visit me in prison?"
In
the days following the shooting, bloggers posted profiles reportedly
found on those sites showing the same prison comment accompanied by a
picture of a man with orange hair that resembled Holmes. In one posting
under the screen name, Classic_Jim, favorite movies listed include the
Jim Carrey cult classic Dumb and Dumber, and Star Wars, etc.
As a possible motive, prosecutors suggest Holmes was angry at a failing academic career.
Holmes
was a graduate student in the neuroscience program at the University of
Colorado. Prosecutors say Holmes did poorly on a key exam and withdrew
on June 10 while he was stockpiling guns, ammunition and body armor
ahead of the shooting.
Holmes had also applied
at graduate neuroscience programs at Iowa, University of Illinois,
Texas A&M, Kansas, Michigan and Alabama.
Holmes
was accepted at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with an
offer of free tuition and $22,000 a year. But Iowa rejected him with a
"Do NOT offer admission under any circumstances" notation.
University
of Alabama at Birmingham also rejected him with one professor noting
that "he may be extremely smart, but difficult to engage."
Associated Press