The accused in the Colorado theater shooting, James Holmes, appeared in the court Thursday for a motions hearing as the lawyers discussed how to contact the victims of the shooting to alert them about the $4 million donations.
Judge William Sylvester overseeing the case agreed to let the Arapahoe County district attorney's office ask victims whether they wished to give their contact information to the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, which would then assess whether they need financial assistance, reports Bloomberg.
A series of legal showdown is expected on the part of prosecutors and defense lawyers with relation to the evidences surrounding this high-profile case with the nation's eyes set on it.
Holmes, with dyed orange hair and clad in a maroon prison uniform, sat in chains with his lawyers, Daniel King and Tamara Brady throughout the 30-minute proceeding Thursday.
The hearing centered on procedural and scheduling items ahead of evidentiary hearings on the information about Holmes with the University of Colorado and who can access it.
A representative of the university, Stephen Zweck, delivered 100 pages of educational records to the court. Judge Sylvester accepted the documents and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 23 on whether the documents can be fully reviewed by the judge and prosecutors.
The defense attorneys have repeatedly argued and stood by their stand that the package sent to the university psychiatrist Dr.Lynne Fenton, which allegedly contains the massacre illustrations, falls under the patient-therapist confidentiality agreement and cannot be turned over to prosecutors.
Another hearing was set for Aug. 30 to discuss whether Holmes's correspondence with psychiatrist Lynne Fenton was privileged.
In addition to that, prosecutors subpoenaed records from the university concerning Holmes, and defense lawyers have moved to block prosecutors from gaining access to those files as well.
In a earlier hearing, defense attorneys filed documents saying Holmes was seeking help from Fenton and he is suffering from unnamed 'mental illness' hinting at going for insanity plea to avoid death penalty.
Holmes has been charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder for opening fire at the Aurora theatre killing 12 and injuring 58.
