* Holmes appears in court with hair dyed orange and red
* Decision on seeking death penalty “months down the line”
* Lawyer for Holmes family to issue statement
(Adds plans for Holmes’ family attorney statement, quotes from
victim’s relative)
By Keith Coffman and Mary Slosson
CENTENNIAL, Colo., July 23 (Reuters) – The man accused of
killing a dozen people in a Colorado movie theater during a
showing of the new “Batman” made his first court appearance on
Monday, looking drowsy and emotionless, his hair dyed shades of
orange and red.
James Eagan Holmes, 24, who was detained immediately after
the massacre, appeared groggy during the brief hearing, looking
straight ahead and occasionally closing his eyes as if fighting
off sleep. He was shackled at the wrists and ankles.
About 40 members of the victims’ families were seated on the
left side of the courtroom. One family member seated in the
front row glared at Holmes throughout.
When Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester asked
Holmes a question, he remained expressionless and an attorney
answered for him.
Police say he presented a far different figure last Friday
when, dressed in a gas mask and body armor and toting three
guns, he opened fire at a packed midnight show at a theater
complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora in the early hours.
The dead include war veterans, an aspiring sportscaster who
had narrowly escaped a shooting in a Toronto mall earlier this
summer, and a 6-year-old girl. Fifty-eight other people were
wounded, and many of them have serious injuries.
The former neuroscience student also left his apartment
booby-trapped with explosives that police said could have
destroyed the apartment complex. They conducted a controlled
detonation over the weekend.
Police say they are still searching for a motive for the
crime, which baffled fellow students and acquaintances. They
described Holmes, a native of San Diego, as a quiet
high-achiever whose past gave little inkling that anything was
amiss.
At the hearing the judge set a date of next Monday for
formal charges to be filed.
POSSIBLE DEATH PENALTY
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said she
would consult with the victims and families of the dead before
making a decision on seeking the death penalty.
Chambers, who has prosecuted two of the three inmates now on
Colorado’s death row, told reporters outside the court house
that the decision on the death penalty had to be made within 60
days of his arraignment, “so it’s months down the line.”
The crime meets all the elements of Colorado capital case
law, including premeditation, multiple victims, and the killing
of a child, said former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman.
“If James Holmes isn’t executed, Colorado may as well throw
away its death penalty law,” he said.
“I think [the death penalty] would be justice,” said David
Sanchez, whose son-in-law Caleb Medely, 23, was shot in the head
while attending the movie with his wife, Katie Medely, who is
Sanchez’s daughter. She is nine months pregnant.
“When it’s your own daughter, and she escaped death by mere
seconds, it really makes you angry,” Sanchez said outside the
court house. He had come for the hearing but was not able to get
into the courtroom.
It was not clear if any of Holmes’ family attended the
hearing, but a California lawyer retained by the family, Lisa
Damiani, was scheduled to make her first formal statement on the
case later on Monday.
The press conference by attorney Damiani was scheduled for 1
p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT/2000 GMT), her office said. Damiani was
expected to speak outside her offices in San Diego, California.
Holmes and his motives remained largely a mystery, with past
associates saying he displayed no hints of a mental illness or
violent tendencies.
He was armed with a Smith & Wesson M&P; .223 semi-automatic
rifle, similar to an AR-15 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and
a Glock .40-caliber handgun. Police found an additional Glock
.40-caliber handgun in his car. All the weapons had been bought
legally.
He is in solitary confinement to protect him from other
prisoners. Holmes had recently dropped out of a doctoral degree
program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz
Medical School, a few blocks from his apartment.
For complete coverage of the Colorado shooting click on
(Additional reporting by Chris Francescani. Writing by Barbara
Goldberg and Claudia Parsons. Editing by David Storey)
