Suspect in Colorado shooting to appear in court

[Posted at 11:27 a.m. ET] The public information officer for Colorado courts tweets that the district attorney in the James Holmes case will hold a press conference after the hearing.

[Posted at 11:09 a.m. ET] James E. Holmes, 24, is likely to face charges of first-degree murder — an offense that carries a possible death penalty, if he is convicted — in the shooting deaths, given allegations over the weekend by police that there is evidence to suggest “calculation and deliberation” in the rampage.

Holmes is being held in connection with the early Friday morning shootings that left 12 dead and 58 wounded, and the subsequent discovery of his booby-trapped apartment, which authorities believe he rigged before leaving for the Century Aurora 16 multiplex. Authorities have been tight-lipped about a possible motive in the case, and police spokesman Frank Fania told CNN late Sunday that Holmes has been uncooperative with investigators and requested an attorney. Arapahoe County public defender James O’Connor has been assigned to the case. The Colorado Judicial Department declined to say whether Holmes requested a public defender. A telephone call by CNN to O’Connor’s office was not immediately returned. Holmes’ court appearance will come a few hours before his family is expected to break their silence with a statement. The family, which lives in San Diego, has not spoken publicly since the allegations against Holmes. They issued a short statement Friday saying they did not wish to be disturbed “at the time of this tragic event.”


James E. Holmes is described by those who know him as a doctoral student who is clean-cut, quiet and responsible, an image difficult to reconcile with the same man who police allege opened fire in a crowded movie theater.
Days after the 24-year-old was arrested on suspicion of a mass shooting at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Colorado, the portrait of Holmes that is emerging is as limited as it is confusing.
Pictures obtained of Holmes show a bright-eyed young man, who is tall with dark hair, which contrasts the description of the man by a law enforcement official who said he dyed his hair red and identified himself as "the Joker" to authorities after he was arrested early Friday morning for allegedly shooting people during a screening of the new Batman movie.
Remembering the victims
By all accounts, Holmes is a bright student. He entered the University of California, Riverside, in 2006 as a scholarship student and graduated with highest honors with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience in 2010.
"Academically, he was at the top of the top," Chancellor Timothy P. White said.
UC Riverside police have no record of any contact with Holmes, the university said.
Neither did police at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where Holmes enrolled in 2011 as a doctoral candidate in its neuroscience program at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, university officials said in a statement released Sunday.
In fact, the sole contact authorities in Colorado appeared to have had with Holmes was a speeding summons in 2011, according to Aurora police.
A syllabus that lists Holmes as a student at the medical school shows that he may have taken a class in which he studied topics as diverse as substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression and other disorders.