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Aurora shooter’s plea offer denied

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 11:51:00 +0000

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors in the Colorado theater massacre case have rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, saying the proposal can't be considered genuine because the defense has repeatedly refused to give them information needed to evaluate it.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said in a scathing court document Thursday, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution."

They also said anyone reading news stories about the offer would inevitably conclude "the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know that he is guilty, and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane."

Neither the defense nor the prosecution immediately returned phone calls Thursday.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 shootings in a packed theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

Holmes' attorneys disclosed in a court filing Wednesday that their client has offered to plead guilty, but only if he wouldn't be executed.

Colorado Department of Corrections chief shot dead in home

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:40:00 +0000

MONUMENT, Colo. (AP) — The executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections was shot and killed when he answered the front door of his house, and police are searching for the gunman.

Tom Clements was shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Monument, north of Colorado Springs, said Lt. Jeff Kramer, of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

A family member called 911 to report the shooting and officers found Clements, 58, dead. Search dogs have been called in to comb through a wooded area around Clements' home, and authorities were going house to house trying to find out what neighbors heard and saw.

Clements lived in a wooded neighborhood of large, two-story houses on expansive 2-acre lots dotted with evergreen trees in an area known as the Black Forest. Long driveways connect the homes to narrow, winding roads that thread the hills. Clements' home was out of view, behind a barricaded of crime-scene tape in the road.

Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed Clements to the post in 2011 after he served for more than three decades in the Missouri Department of Corrections. He replaced Ari Zavaras, a former Denver police chief who led the department under two governors.

Aurora movie theater reopoens, months after mass shooting

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:00:00 +0000

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — One survivor had to pause on his way into the theater and pray. Another braced for flashbacks as he entered the auditorium where 12 people died and dozens were injured during a massacre six months earlier. Others refused to come, viewing the reopening of the multiplex as insensitive.

The former Century 16, now renovated and renamed the Century Aurora, opened its doors to victims of the July 20 attack on Thursday night with a somber remembrance ceremony and a special showing of "The Hobbit."

Theater 9, where neuroscience graduate student James Holmes allegedly opened fire on a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Returns," is now an XD theater with a wall-to-wall screen and stadium seating.

"We as a community have not been defeated," Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan told victims, officials, and dozens of police officers and other first responders who filled half the theater's seats at the ceremony.

"We are a community of survivors," Hogan declared. "We will not let this tragedy define us."

Mental illness in CO case

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 08:15:00 +0000

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — After defense lawyers disclosed their belief that the Colorado theater shooting suspect is mentally ill, victims and their families are questioning whether that argument will change the trial's focus to him rather than his actions.

"They keep talking about fairness for him," said Shane Medek, whose 23-year-old sister Micayla Medek died in the July 20 shootings. "It's like they're babying this dude."

James Holmes is accused of opening fire in a movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. His lawyers disclosed their belief that he suffers from a mental illness during a suburban Denver court hearing Thursday, when nearly two dozen news organizations asked a judge to unseal case documents.

Defense attorney Daniel King argued that the seal and a sweeping gag order ensure fairness. He also told the judge that the defense team needed more information from prosecutors and investigators.

"We cannot begin to assess the nature and the depth of Mr. Holmes' mental illness until we receive full disclosure," he said in court.

No sign of boy said to have floated off on balloon

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000

A Colorado sheriff's official says a 6-year-old boy climbed into a box that was attached to a homemade balloon, but the box wasn't found when the craft crashed.

Kathy Messick, Larimer County sheriff's spokeswoman, says one of the boy's brothers saw him get into the box or basket, which was attached with pegs.

She says search teams are scouring the area from the house in the direction that the balloon flew. The craft was airborne for more than two hours and glided through two counties.

Messick says investigators are looking into every possibility, including whether the boy was ever in the balloon.

She described the boy, Falcon, as 3 feet tall with dark hair, and said his parents are "very traumatized."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -- A Colorado sheriff's official says a 6-year-old boy climbed into a box that was attached to a homemade balloon, but the box wasn't found when the craft crashed.