Americas

Americas

Colorado theater shooting suspect makes first court appearance

24 July 2012 04:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. James Holmes, the 24- year-old suspect that killed 12 people and wounded 58 others in a movie theater shooting spree in Aurora, Colorado, made his first court appearance Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Orange-haired Holmes, wearing red sweat pants and a pink, long- sleeved tee shirt, showed his face to the public for the first time since he was incarcerated in connection to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a Batman movie premiere early Friday morning.

Five victim’s family members were present in the packed courtroom at the state’s Arapahoe County District Court as Holmes, tied with leather anklet, appearing calm and subdued with no facial expression, entered the court at 9:30 a.m. local time (1630 GMT) for his initial advisement hearing.

Chief Judge William B. Sylvester granted a gag order to prosecutors cautioning not to compromise jurors in a case that is already highly publicized.

"We were looking to see a monster, but we didn’t see that," said 52-year-old local resident John Vogt, one of 40 citizens who joined 40 members of the media and 20 officials at the hearing.

A four-prosecutor team, including veteran Chief Deputy Karen Pearson as the lead, and Rich Orman, Jocob Edson will work on the case. Daniel King from the Arapahoe County Public Defender’s office was Holmes’s attorney. He refused to speak on the case after the around-10-minute hearing.

Holmes will be back in court again on July 30 when formal charges are expected to be filled against him. Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers told Xinhua that the charges are extensive, but she does not anticipate an extension to accumulate additional charges.

According to Chamebers, at least 24 first-degree murder charges are expected to be filed against Holmes, due to Arapahoe County’s double-list murder laws, and experts say more than 100 total charges are likely to be filed.

Chambers added that next Monday’s hearing may be postponed if there are any special circumstances.

It will take at least 60 days before Holmes will enter his plea and Chambers indicated it will be the discretion of her office whether or not to seek the Death Penalty.