Eyes rolling, head swaying and that bright red Joker hair: Colorado killer faces victims' families in bizarre first appearance in court

• James Holmes, 24, accused of shooting dead 12 and wounding 58
• Appeared unemotional and bleary-eyed at Arapahoe Country Courthouse
• Comes after reports that he was spitting on the floor inside jail and 'thought he was acting in a movie'
• Formal charges will be filed against Holmes next Monday
• Prosecutors said they will seek death penalty on advice of family members
• Legal experts: Defense likely to pursue insanity defense

By Lydia Warren

The gunman suspected of brutally slaying 12 moviegoers during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado has appeared in court for the first time looking disheveled and wide-eyed.
James Holmes, 24, who dyed his hair red in a reported bid to look like Batman's arch nemesis The Joker, looked straight ahead in Arapahoe County Courthouse as the judge advised him of the case.
Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder after he shot dead 12 cinema-goers and wounded 58 in a horrifying shooting spree just after midnight on Friday morning.
The judge ordered the suspected gunman, who some commentators suggested may have been suffering from a lack of sleep, to have no contact with any surviving victims or their relatives.
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In court: James Holmes, who is suspected of killing 12 and wounding 58 in a shooting spree, looked disheveled during his court appearance. He sat next to his public defender Tamara Brady

Throughout the advisement, he sat next to Tamara Brady, his assigned public defender. Suspects often interact with their public defenders about the judge's address but Holmes sat silently.
Prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty for the suspected shooter, a former PhD student described as an outsider who is believed to have recently gone through a break up.
Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers said that her office will decide whether to pursue the penalty after consultation with victims' families.

 

Speaking after the court appearance, Chambers said the decision will need to be made within 60 days of Holmes's arraignment. She said the formal charges will be filed against him next Monday.
Chambers added that first-degree murder charges can be filed if a suspect is believed to have 'extreme indifference' to a crime or if it is carried out 'after deliberation'.
Legal experts told the Denver Post that Holmes's attorneys are likely to pursue an insanity defense.

Despondent: Holmes, who dyed his hair to appear like Batman's nemesis The Joker, looks down in court

Bleary-eyed: Holmes opened and closed his eyes slowly as the judge advised him of the case

Out of it: Some commentators suggested Holmes had had a lack of sleep

And looking at Holmes in court, it is clear the suspected murderer, who stared straight ahead and blinked slowly, did not look quite right.
CNN commentators said it was unlikely he would have been given drugs that would impair his understanding of the judge's comments. Instead, he could have been suffering a lack of sleep.
Of his defense case, former Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant told the Post he saw little option but to plead insanity.
'You just have to imagine that there is something in his psychiatric makeup that will be exploited by his defense team,' he said. 'I don't know what the hell else they are going to say.'
Experts added Holmes is likely to undergo a competency test to see if he is psychologically fit to assist in his defense.

'If in fact he is sane, it's a hopeless case for the defense,' legal analyst, Scott Robinson, said. 'They caught him literally gunpowder-handed with his weapons, with his tactical gear.'

Mourning: The father of six-year old Veronica Moser, the youngest victim, arrives at court for the hearing

Sentence: Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers talks to the media before going to court. She said the prosecutor's office would talk with relatives on whether to pursuit the death penalty for Holmes

David Lane, a lawyer who has represented 25 people charged with death-penalty offenses, added: 'There are some crimes, the nature of which just scream out 'crazy.' This is one of those cases.'

WHO IS HOLMES' LAWYER?

It will undoubtedly become a household names in coming weeks: James O'Connor has been appointed as the public defender for James Holmes.
Mr O'Connor is the head of the public defender's office that covers the sprawling 18th Judicial District from suburban Denver to the eastern Colorado plains.
He specializes in criminal defense for felony cases - a good fit considering Holmes is the lone suspect in a shooting that left 12 dead and 58 injured and will likely be charged with multiple felonies.
Mr O'Connor appears to be a true Coloradoan as he attended Regis University for his undergraduate degree in Denver and then went on to law school at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Though Holmes was seen in court on Monday morning, he was not seen next to Mr O'Connor.
Instead, he was seen sitting next to Tamara Brady, who is also a public defender in the Colorado State's office.
The defense team will be facing District Attorney Carol Chambers in court and she will be taking the more sympathetic role of siding with the dozens of victims and their families.
Ms Chambers spoke publicly after the brief televised court appearance, and said that she and her office would be seeking the death penalty or not.

He has been held at the Arapahoe Detention Center since his arrest in the cinema parking lot just moments after the shooting spree on Friday morning.
Jailors at the facility told the New York Daily News the suspect has not shown any remorse for the killings. He has been acting bizarrely ever since arriving and 'thinks he's acting in a movie', they said.
'He was spitting at the door and spitting at the guards,' a released inmate added outside the jail. 'He’s spitting at everything. Dude was acting crazy.'
It comes as new details shed light on a possible motive for the massacre.
It is believed Holmes was due to be kicked out of his flat and may have recently broken up with a girlfriend, while one friend said his addiction to video games meant he had lost touch with reality.
But it could take months to figure out the cause behind the killings; as he waited for his first court appearance, authorities disclosed Holmes is refusing to cooperate.
Before being moved to the courtroom for the hearing, he was held in solitary confinement at an Arapahoe County detention facility.
He was assigned a public defender and Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said that the suspect has 'lawyered up' since his arrest in the early hours of Friday in the cinema parking lot.
'He's not talking to us,' Oates added.
In regards to a possible motice, Aurora police chief Daniel Oates had hinted that Holmes had recently gone through a break up and that authorities were investigating the claim.
'I’ve heard one morsel of information about a relationship that may or may not be true,' he told CBS' Face the Nation.
'That’s why we have all our investigators working on this. That’s why we brought in the FBI behavioral analysts. They’re going to figure all that stuff out.'
It is also believed that Holmes was due to be evicted from his flat. The 24-year-old, who is now in police custody, pulled out of the university weeks before the deadly attack.
Neighbours told TMZ anyone living in the block had to be enrolled at the university otherwise you had 30 days to evacuate.
It is not known exactly when Holmes stopped going to classes but it is thought he was nearing the end of the 30-day grace period.

Waiting for justice: Surviving victims of the shooting and their relatives and friends arrive at the courthouse

Scrum: Members of the media crowd around the courthouse ahead of Holmes's appearance

A former classmate from the University of Colorado suggested another cause for the killings, saying Holmes had lost touch with reality after becoming 'obsessed' with video games.
The classmate told the Daily Mail: 'James was obsessed with computer games and was always playing role-playing games.
'I can’t remember which one but it was something like World of Warcraft, one of those where you compete against people on the internet.
'He did not have much of a life apart from that and doing his work. James seemed like he wanted to be in the game and be one of the characters.

Innocent: Among the victims were six-year-old Veronica Moser, left, and aspiring sportscaster Jessica Ghawi, who had escaped another shooting in Toronto last month. Three servicemen also died

Trail of blood: Police investigate Holmes's car outside the movie theatre on Friday morning

'It seemed that being online was more important to him than real life. He must have lost his sense of reality, how else can you shoot dozens of people you don’t know?'
Other acquaintances, who had worked with Holmes at a children's summer camp in 2008, noted he was an outsider who was 'shy and reserved'.
'The entire staff was really close, considering we lived together - except for James,' the counselor told NBC News.
'He really kept to himself and hardly ever went on any trips with the rest of the staff. He was very shy and reserved. It is sickening knowing that he killed kids the same age that he once cared for.'
Holmes worked at the California camp during the summer of 2008, and supervised around 10 underprivileged children between the ages of seven and 14, a spokesperson said.

Anguish: Mourners pray in front of a makeshift memorial after a prayer vigil at the Aurora Municipal Center

Remembered: Well wishers offer prayers for the 12 victims and 58 wounded in the horrific attack

Remembered: People visit a memorial for the victims across the street from the movie theater

Support: People gather in prayer during a memorial outside the Aurora Municipal Center on Sunday

Amid the continuing investigation into Holmes and his character, memorial services were held in Aurora on Sunday, with the community holding a prayer vigil.
President Barack Obama also arrived to visit victims' families at the University of Colorado Hospital and said he told the families that 'all of America and much of the world is thinking about them'.
Several thousand gathered for healing at the vigil Sunday night, while well-wishers left notes, soft toys, pictures and flowers at crosses for each of the victims opposite the cinema in Aurora.

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