Lawyers for accused Aurora theater shooter will ask again to move Holmes trial

CENTENNIAL | Lawyers for James Holmes said Monday they will revisit their request to move the Aurora theater shooting trial out of Arapahoe County.

Kristen Nelson, one of the public defenders representing Holmes, said the defense will file motions next week detailing media coverage from last April — when the defense first asked that the trial be moved — until now.

Nelson said they will also show the judge evidence from some juror questionnaires that shows prospective jurors in the case are prejudiced against Holmes.

Judge Carlos Samour Jr. didn’t rule on the defense’s request for a change of venue last year and instead said the only way to know if a fair jury could be found in Arapahoe County was to try. He said at the time that once the two sides have tried to seat a jury here, he would revisit the issue.

But, the judge said at the time, he was confident the two sides could find an impartial jury in Arapahoe County despite the intense media coverage of the case.

Samour said Monday that he would allow oral arguments on the change of venue request once individual questioning of jurors is complete in a few weeks.

The individual questioning phase is in week four of what was supposed to be 16 weeks, but it is moving faster than expected. Through the first three weeks, 43 jurors have already been retained for the next round. Samour had hoped for about 12o by the end of the session.

Also Monday, Holmes’ lawyers said when Holmes was hospitalized in November 2012 it was because he was having a “psychotic breakdown.” That came out during discussion about a prospective juror from last week who knows a jail nurse who was present during the incident.

Daniel King, one of Holmes’ public defenders, said that during the “breakdown,” Holmes was taken to the psychiatric ward at Denver Health Medical Center.

The same nurse had regular interactions with Holmes and gave him his “anti-psychotic medication” at the jail, King said.

Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman said prosecutors don’t believe Holmes had a “psychotic” episode that day and said they would dispute that idea at trial.

Orman also said the juror should be retained because there was a slim chance that the nurse would be called as a witness.

Still, King argued that while prosecutors say they don’t plan on calling her as a witness, the possibility of her being called and a juror knowing her could be a problem.

Samour said he will consider how to handle the prospective juror but wouldn’t make an immediate decision.

During the argument over the juror who knows the jail nurse, the two sides took starkly different approaches to discussing it. Orman referred to it only as a “particular incident” and was careful not to mention details — not even when it happened, or that it involved Holmes’ hospitalization in November 2012.

King, however, referred to the nurse by name, said she worked in the jail and said the incident involved Holmes having a “psychotic breakdown.”

Holmes sat quietly during this morning’s session wearing a white dress shirt and dark slacks.

A total of five jurors were released this morning and one was kept for the next round. Another six are scheduled for questioning this afternoon.