Holmes’ lawyers call no witnesses

Suspect’s photos show arsenal

— Prosecutors Wednesday showed pictures that accused-gunman James Holmes took on his iPhone hours before the Aurora movie theater massacre. In them, Holmes mugs for the camera, sticks out his tongue and smiles as he holds a Glock under his face and displays an arsenal arrayed on his bed.

Prosecutors who displayed the pictures at a hearing that ended Wednesday argued that the photos display “identity, deliberation and extreme indifference.”

Holmes’ attorneys - who have been setting up an insanity defense and said they might present testimony about the defendant’s mental health - decided not to call any witnesses Wednesday.

A judge is to rule by Friday whether prosecutors presented enough evidence to justify Holmes standing trial on more than 160 felony counts stemming from the July 20 attack, which killed 12 people and injured 70. Holmes, 25, may enter a formal plea that day.

Holmes is charged with first-degree murder, which can carry the death penalty, and more than 100 counts ofattempted murder.

Prosecutors presented detailed descriptions of the attack and Holmes’ purported months of preparation. But they never addressed why Holmes reportedly opened fire six weeks after leaving a neuroscience graduate program.

Legal experts say evidence against Holmes is so strong that the case may end in a plea deal. That would make the hearing the only detailed presentation of the evidence that victims, their families and the public will hear.

Holmes sat impassively through much of the proceedings, watching intently as a surveillance video showed him entering the theater lobby. Family members, who had a better view of Holmes’ face than the media did in the packed courtroom, said he smiled multiple times, especially when the photos were shown.

“He’s not crazy, he’s evil,” said Tom Teves, whose 24-yearold son, Alex, was killed in the attack. “He’s an animal.”

After the cell-phone photos of Holmes were put on two large television screens at the front of the courtroom, transfixing the packed gallery, Alex’s mother, Caren Teves, scribbled a note on a pad she held in her lap.

“No Insanity,” it read.

Prosecutor Karen Pearson argued that Holmes meticulously planned the attack, starting with the online purchase of two tear-gas canisters on May 10, followed by buying online 6,295 rounds of ammunition and body armor, as well as going to local sporting-goods stores to purchase an assault rifle, shotgun and two Glockpistols. He bought his movie ticket for opening night of The Dark Knight Returns nearly two weeks before the attack and visited the theater early, photographing the layout, the hearing revealed.

He rigged an elaborate booby-trap system in his apartment with three different triggers, hoping the detonation would distract police from the carnage he planned a few miles away, investigators testified. The trap was never sprung.

About six hours before the attack, Holmes reportedly took a series of photos on his phone. In one he wears black contact lenses and a black stocking cap, with two tufts of his dyed-red hair sticking out like a pair of horns. In another he holds a pistol under his grinning face. In a third, the assault rifle and shotgun, magazines for ammunition, tactical gear and bags to carry rounds are displayed on a red sheet on his bed.

Other photographs, taken by the police, showed the parking lot behind the theater just hours after the shooting. Holmes’ assault rifle lies on the ground near an emergency exit, a trail of blood snaking toward the door. A makeshift doorstop is jammed into the exit, propping it open. An array of tactical gear - a gas mask, handguns, gun magazines and caltrops - is scattered in and around Holmes’ car.

When Holmes burst into the theater and opened fire just after midnight July 20,prosecutors said, there were as many as 1,500 people crowded into the seats and in the auditorium next door. During the gunfire, some bullets pierced the wall and injured people in the adjacent theater. Holmes fired about 70 rounds, many of which apparently hit multiple people, and was only prevented from shooting more because his rifle jammed, prosecutors said.

“He picked the perfect venue for this crime,” Pearson told the court. “There were never going to be enough ambulances, enough police officers to get everyone out of there fast enough.”

She added: “He didn’t care who he killed and how many he killed, because he wanted to kill all of them. And he knew what he was doing.”

Daniel King, a public defender for Holmes, did not call any witnesses during the 21/2-day hearing, opting to wait before presenting his defense.King has repeatedly signaled that he plans to argue that Holmes is innocent because of insanity.

“This is neither the proper venue nor the time for us to put on a show or present some truncated defense,” he said.

Craig Silverman, a former prosecutor who is now a Denver criminal-defense attorney, said in an interview after watching some of the preliminary hearing that the judge will move the case to trial.

“The prosecution is going to win,” he said. “I doubt that a single charge will be thrown out.” Information for this article was contributed by Dan Elliott, Thomas Peipert, Nicholas Riccardi and Colleen Slevin of The Associated Press; by Dan Frosch of The New York Times; and by Jeff Kass of Bloomberg News.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/10/2013

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