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| FILE - In this April 27, 2015 file photo taken from video, Colorado movie theater massacre defendant James Holmes, far left, sits at the defense table at the opening of his trial in Centennial, Colo. The courtroom where the Colorado theater shooting trial is now unfolding is awash with emotion, as survivors recount the horrors of dodging gunfire and stumbling over loved ones' maimed bodies as they fled. |
CENTENNIAL, Colo.
(AP) -- The courtroom where the Colorado theater shooting trial is
unfolding is awash with emotion as survivors recount the horrors of
dodging gunfire and stumbling over loved ones' bodies as they fled.
But
the man tethered to the floor at the defense table seems impervious to
it all, hardly moving as witnesses share details of his carnage.
Interpretations
of James Holmes' stone-faced, nearly catatonic demeanor cut to the
heart of the case. His attorneys say he seems aloof because of
anti-psychotic medications he has taken since he killed 12 people and
injured 70 more in the packed movie theater. But prosecutors hint of
something dark and calculating below that emotionless exterior.
Holmes
has remained unaffected in the opening days of his death penalty trial,
stoic even as attorneys revealed the most intimate details of his
personal life, from his failures in romance to his family's history of
mental illness. He stares blankly ahead, rarely turning his head to
glance at jurors or the crowded gallery. He doesn't speak to the
attorneys by his side. Not even the sight of his parents seated two rows
behind him gives him any noticeable rise.
He's
so impassive that, even before his trial began, defense attorney Tamara
Brady asked prospective jurors if they would read anything into his
appearance, searching for those who wouldn't study him too hard.
"When
you look at Mr. Holmes, what do you think?" she asked. "Can you tell if
he's mentally ill? Does he look guilty? Does he look not guilty? If he
talks to his lawyers, or doesn't talk to his lawyers, does that mean
he's mentally ill?"
His appearance has been
the subject of speculation since his original booking photo showed him
with fiery orange-red hair, which he later told police he dyed in order
to be remembered. At an early court hearing shortly after the July 20,
2012, attack, Holmes looked dazed, sullen and disoriented.
"The way he appeared was the way he was," defense attorney Daniel King said "His appearance speaks for itself."
Dr.
Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist based in Scottsdale, Arizona, said
Holmes' appearance is consistent with someone who is mentally ill and
on psychotropic medications - drugs that affect mental activity, mood,
conduct and perception.
"The behavior that you
are seeing in court is an absolute byproduct of the nature and extent
of his mental illness and whatever psychotropic medications he may or
may not be taking," said Pitt, who often works on criminal cases but
isn't involved in the Holmes trial.
Pitt said
it was impossible to know, simply by observing Holmes, how aware he is
of the proceedings - that would require a conversation with him. But
since Holmes was found mentally competent to stand trial as part of his
first sanity examination, he probably understands what's going on and
can help with his defense, Pitt said.
When
jurors decide whether Holmes was legally insane at the time of the
shooting, the judge will order them to rely on evidence and testimony,
not his expressionless face. Still, it has been the subject of quiet
courtroom chatter.
King said 20 doctors who
treated Holmes since his arrest agree he suffers from a serious
psychotic illness. It flared up behind bars, where surveillance footage
and guards caught Holmes licking his cell walls, rearranging blankets,
eating lunch meat between flattened paper cups and sucking his thumb and
crying in November 2012. He told a jail psychiatrist he thought he was
Peter Pan. Doctors at a hospital where he was taken after repeatedly
ramming his head into walls prescribed him the prescription drug Haldol,
and King said he has been taking anti-psychotic medicine ever since
that episode.
"And it's been having a positive
effect on him," King said during opening statements. "If he appears
distracted or aloof or unconnected, that's in part due to the
medications he is on."
But the dramatic testimony isn't lost on Holmes, King said.
"He now regrets what took place in the theater," he said.
Holmes
has always had a crippling awkwardness that made it hard for him to
socialize and be successful in his study of neuroscience, District
Attorney George Brauchler said. He excelled at bookwork, for example,
but struggled with labs that required human interaction, the prosecutor
said.
Officials at one graduate school that rejected him said they found him aloof, quiet and disinterested, Brauchler said.
"He had a lifetime worth of social anxiety," he said, noting his "flat" demeanor.
Brauchler
said he was much more "sharp and witty" in writing, which helped him
conceal his plans for mass murder when sending benign emails about life
to his parents.
"He is smart," Brauchler said in noting that two court-appointed psychiatrists who examined him found him sane.
In videotapes of one of those interviews, Holmes' voice sounds thick and mechanical, even as he talks about his victims.
"I
only count fatalities," he told psychiatrist William Reid in a video
snippet shown in court. "The dead can't be repaired or come back to life
or be normal again. It's irreversible."
When Reid asked about the wounded, Holmes replied, "They're collateral damage, I guess."
