Judge in Colorado cinema murder trial rejects defense request for mistrial

[June 04, 2015]  By Keith Coffman
 
 CENTENNIAL, Colo., (Reuters) - The judge presiding over the murder trial of Colorado theater gunman James Holmes denied a motion by defense lawyers for a mistrial on Wednesday over videos shown to jurors of a psychiatrist’s interviews with the admitted shooter.

Public defender Kristen Nelson argued that a video played in court, in which Holmes described details of the crime to court-appointed psychiatrist William Reid, violated his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

It was the second time Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour has denied a defense motion for a mistrial since Reid took the stand late last week.

Holmes, 27, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from the July 2012 rampage. His lawyers have said that the former neuroscience graduate student is schizophrenic and heard voices that told him to kill.

Reid has testified that while Holmes is mentally ill, he was sane when he fatally shot 12 moviegoers and wounded dozens more at a suburban Denver cinema during a midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Prosecutors have said Holmes harbored “a longstanding hatred of mankind,” and pledged to seek the death penalty for the California native if he is convicted.

In arguing for a mistrial, Nelson said that showing jurors the videos of Holmes telling Reid how he shot at two fleeing people inside the cinema amounted to “compelled testimony.” In the video, Holmes also described how he tried to reload his rifle, and said he would have shot a theater employee had he intervened.

Samour rejected the motion, calling it “untimely” and noting that the defense had raised the same issue earlier in the case when they sought to bar the videos from being shown at trial.

“You should have objected before he (Reid) took the stand,” Samour said, adding that the issue should be raised on appeal should there be a conviction.

Jurors in the capital murder trial have listened to hours of the interviews Reid conducted with Holmes last year in which he said committing mass murder would enhance his “self worth” and that killing others would allay his suicidal thoughts.

In between portions of the video played on Wednesday, Reid testified that Holmes’ actions leading up to the massacre were rational, including booby-trapping his apartment to divert emergency responders.

“He was not suffering from acute psychosis,” Reid said.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

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