The College Fix

James Holmes, accused of killing 12 people and injuring 60-plus others in a theater shooting July 20 in Colorado, will plead insanity. His lawyers said Tuesday in court documents that Holmes, 25, the former University of Colorado neuroscience student and suspected gunman, was out of his mind when he stormed “The Dark Knight Rises” showing, and that he intends to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

“Holmes would need the judge’s permission to change his plea from the standard not guilty plea currently entered on his behalf,” the Denver Post reported. “Judge Carlos Samour Jr. wrote  in an order Tuesday that he will allow Holmes’ attorneys to argue at a hearing  Monday morning that they have ‘good cause’ for the plea change.”

By saying he wants to enter an insanity plea, Holmes is saying he won’t contest that he was the masked and armored man who sprayed a crowded movie theater with  gunfire in one of the worst mass shootings in American history. Instead, Holmes’ attorneys will argue Holmes was so mentally ill that it affected his reasoning in a way that prevented him from appreciating the wrongfulness of his actions, said Dr. Steven Pitt, a nationally known forensic psychiatrist.

For those who have followed the case, the plea may not come as a surprise. The Post previously reported that:

Holmes’ psychiatrist went to a campus police officer with concerns about a patient the same day she met with Holmes in mid-June. The next day, Holmes’ key-card access to campus buildings was cut off. The day after that, Holmes began to withdraw from the university.

The University of Iowa rejected a 2011 application from Holmes, saying “Do NOT offer admission under any circumstances,” according to documents obtained by The Denver Post.

Holmes allegedly called the University of Colorado Hospital eight minutes before the massacre began — but the caller was silent and asked for no services, according to a hospital official cited in a Denver Post report. An attorney for Holmes has raised the suggestion that the suspected killer called the hospital seeking out his psychiatrist, the newspaper reports.

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