Colorado shooting suspect charged with 24 counts 1st-degree murder
By Keith Coffman and Chris Francescani | Reuters –
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) – The former graduate student accused of opening fire at a midnight screening of the new “Batman” film in Colorado, killing 12 people, was charged on Monday with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder.
James Holmes, who was arrested behind the Century 16 multiplex in the Denver suburb of Aurora moments after the July 20 shooting at a packed showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” made his second court appearance on Monday.
Fifty-eight people were wounded, some of whom remain in critical condition.
The first-degree murder charges make him eligible to face the death penalty, although prosecutors have not yet said whether they would seek it in the case.
Prosecutors essentially charged Holmes with two murder counts for each victim – one standard first-degree murder charge plus one count of murder with extreme indifference. They also filed two attempted murder counts for each of the wounded survivors.
Holmes, 24, who authorities say styled himself after Batman’s comic-book nemesis “the Joker,” appeared in court clad in jail garb, his hair still dyed bright orange but with the colour fading to pink in places.
He sat impassively at a table with two defence lawyers through the 45 minute hearing but
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