Judge accepts Holmes' insanity plea

James Holmes sits with defense attorney Tamara Brady at a hearing earlier this year. (AP)

[Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET]

CENTENNIAL, Colo.?A judge on Tuesday accepted shooting suspect James Holmes' plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in the theater slayings case.

Holmes is accused of fatally shooting 12 Aurora, Colo., movie theater patrons last summer during a midnight screening of ?The Dark Knight Rises,? the latest Batman movie. Fifty-eight others were injured. The Arapahoe County district attorney is seeking the death penalty.

A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation will take place at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. The exam will be finished by Aug. 2.

?Every person is presumed to be sane,? Judge Carlos A. Samour said from the bench on Tuesday.

However, he noted that in Colorado, once an issue of insanity is raised, the burden is on the prosecution to prove the defendant is sane. The judge will allow Holmes? defense team to have a doctor of its choice also evaluate Holmes.

Tuesday?s ruling also sets up the possibility that the notebook Holmes sent to his university psychiatrist days before the attacks will no longer be shielded under doctor-patient privilege.

Reportedly containing detailed descriptions and drawings of the shootings, the notebook was thumbed through by law enforcement officials in the University of Colorado?s mail room days after the attack. But because the court ruled last fall that Holmes was under Dr. Lynne Fenton?s psychiatric care at the time, lawyers and witnesses couldn?t discuss or see the notebook?s contents.

In an order last week, Samour denied the defense?s request for more time to prepare to discuss the notebook in court.

?The privilege issue related to the [notebook] has been briefed and discussed before,? Samour wrote. ?It is true, of course, that the defendant?s not guilty by reason of insanity plea, if accepted, may alter the analysis, but the parties have been aware of that for some time.?

Indeed, attorneys have discussed the notebook vis-a-vis Holmes? mental state as far back as August, when prosecutors tried to convince the first judge in the case that Fenton was more akin to a general practitioner than a mental health professional and, thus, the notebook wasn?t privileged. The judge didn?t agree, and the mystery of the notebook?s exact contents has continued.

Courtroom sketch of Dr. Lynne Fenton and shooting suspect James Holmes (Bill Robles)

Also at Tuesday's hearing, Samour will advise Holmes what an insanity plea entails beyond the notebook, including the possibility of state-administered mental health evaluations. The defense lost its bid last week to strike down portions of Colorado state law, arguing that government psych exams could violate Holmes? right to a fair trial in a capital case.

The hearing, originally scheduled for last Thursday, was moved to Tuesday at the defense?s request. The prosecution acquiesced, but only if the hearing would address the notebook privilege issue.

The defense filed its objection to that compromise on Friday, noting that it was pulling ?extremely long hours? to comply with the court?s Monday deadline on noncapital-punishment-related motions as well as work related to Holmes? insanity plea.

?Counsel simply cannot complete all the work that needs to be done on those motions,? the defense wrote in that filing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/prosecutors-could-soon-look-james-holmes-notebook-094230715.html

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