James Holmes: Colorado Shooting Suspect Was Seeing Psychiatrist Before Massacre

James Holmes, the man accused of opening fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado last week and killing 12 (wounding 58), was seeing a psychiatrist before the devastating killing spree, according to Holmes’ lawyers.

The Huffington Post reports that court papers filed on Friday show that the former graduate student was being treated by a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado, where he studied.

Defense attorneys for accused shooter James Holmes made the disclosure in a court motion and showed that they are currently seeking to discover the source of leaks to some media outlets regarding a package that Holmes sent the psychiatrist. The package contained a notebook with descriptions and pictures of an attack, which authorities believe could have been the alleged shooter’s planned movie theater rampage.

The attorneys wrote that the leak violated a judge’s gag order and also jeopardized James Holmes’ right to a fair trial. They added:

“The government’s disclosure of this confidential and privileged information has placed Mr. Holmes’ constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial by an impartial jury in serious jeopardy.”

According to ABC News, Holmes’ attorneys filed the motion, demanding that the court, “immediately produce all discovery pertaining to the seizure of the package.”

Investigators initially discovered the package on Monday in the University of Colorado’s mail room and were so concerned that it could be rigged with explosives that they sent in a robot to recover the package. Once it was opened, they allegedly found plans for a massacre, which included drawings of a stick-figure mowing down his victims with a gun.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s office, which represents the state, immediately filed an objection to the motion, asking that it be denied. They said that the motion by Holmes’ attorneys was, “based on certain factual assumptions that are not established by evidence and that the People believe are of dubious validity, if not outright incorrect.”

James Holmes will make his second court appearance on Monday, where he will be formally charged for the Aurora, Colorado shootings.

Do you think that the revelation that Holmes was seeing a psychiatrist before the Dark Knight shootings will help his position in court, or is it simply a coincidence?

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