CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Nearly three years after police arrested James Holmes outside a suburban Denver movie theater where he shot and killed 12 people, prosecutors are set to lay out why they believe jurors should order his execution.
Opening arguments begin Monday afternoon in the slow-moving case against Holmes, who is also accused of injuring about 70 others as he rampaged through the movie theater during a midnight showing of The Dark Night Returns. Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and defense lawyers argue he was in the grips of a psychotic episode when he entered the theater and opened fire.
Prosecutors are expected to argue that Holmes planned and prepared for weeks if not months, accumulating ammunition, practicing with his weapons, and building explosives that he used to booby-trap his apartment.
Exactly what evidence and arguments will be made have remained largely a secret thanks to a gag order dropped on the case within hours of Holmes' arrest. Under Colorado law, the same 12-member jury that will decide Holmes' guilt or innocence also will decide whether he should be executed if he's convicted.
Barry Slotnick, a New York-based defense lawyer famed for defending clients such as subway shooter Bernhard Goetz, casino magnate Steve Wynn, and former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, said the stakes could not be higher in this case. The pressure on both sides will be intense.
"The death penalty is extreme as you can get," he said.
The trial is expected to last as long as four months, as prosecutors call potentially hundreds of witnesses from police officers to first responders in their efforts to prove the more than 150 charges Holmes faces. The charges include one count of murder with deliberation and one count of murder with extreme indifference for each person killed.
Holmes' parents say their son suffers from mental illness and previously begged prosecutors to agree to a plea deal that would see him locked up for life and spared execution. Prosecutors declined, saying they believe only his death can bring justice for the victims and their loved ones.
"In this case, for James Egan Holmes, justice is death," District Attorney George Brauchler said in April 2013.
Holmes has undergone two formal — and still confidential — mental-health evaluations. His mental health will play a central role in the trial, but prosecutors, defense attorneys and Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. all have warned jurors that they'll see terrible photos and videos and hear harrowing stories of death, loss and injury.
The court will make mental-health counseling available to jurors following the trial.
"They're in for a rough ride," said Max Wachtel, a Denver psychologist and mental-health consultant for KUSA-TV. "They're going to have a really hard time with this."
One of Wachtel's then-students, Alex Teves, was killed in the shooting while shielding his girlfriend from gunfire.
At a January 2013 preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented seemingly overwhelming evidence that showed Holmes methodically planning his July 20, 2012, attack at Aurora's Century 16 theater complex. He bought an assault rifle, shotgun, two semiautomatic pistols, more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition, bomb-making material and other gear for nearly two months before the shootings.
Photos from his cellphone showed he had staked out the rear of the theater and exit doors before the shootings. Aurora police arrested Holmes in the rear of the theater parking lot minutes after the attack.
Holmes' demeanor and appearance have changed since the attack. When arrested, he had bright orange hair and wore a red jail jumpsuit to court appearances. But to avoid tainting the jury, the judge has permitted Holmes to wear street clothes — usually a button-down shirt and khaki pants — to court.
His hair appears to have returned to its natural red-brown color, and he wears reddish tortoiseshell glasses and occasionally interacts with his defense team. Unseen by jurors, Holmes will be shackled to the floor for security reasons.
"You have to keep an open mind throughout the trial, remembering that Mr. Holmes is presumed innocent," Samour told the jury after it was sworn in earlier this month. "Folks, we are depending on you to uphold the oath you have taken."
Scott Robinson, a prominent Denver defense lawyer who has watched the case closely, said the trial likely will provide some answers, including about the kind of mental-health care Holmes had before the shooting and what might have been done to prevent the carnage.
"We will learn a lot about why," Robinson said. "We won't be able to understand it, I guarantee."
