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Colorado Shooting Hearing Ends With Chilling Photos, No Defense Witnesses

In the weeks before the attack, James Holmes took photos of the Colorado movie theater where 12 people were killed and dozens more wounded in last summer's mass shooting, prosecutors revealed Wednesday at a court hearing in Colorado.

They also introduced photos he took on the night of the midnight massacre, theDenver Post reports:

"In one, marked 6:22 p.m., he was wearing black contact lenses. His hair was dyed red under a black cap, and he stuck out his tongue at the camera. In another image, he is seen smiling with the muzzle of a Glock handgun in the frame. Prosecutors told the court they introduced the self photos because they help show Holmes' 'identity, deliberation and extreme indifference.' "

Wednesday was Day 3 of a preliminary hearing to officially determine whether there's enough evidence to go forward with a trial. The proceedings are now over, local news outlets say, and the 25-year-old Holmes' attorneys chose not to call any witnesses. It's thought they may try to argue that he is insane.

Our previous posts about this week's hearing:

-- 911 Calls Played And Traps In Holmes' Apartment Described In Colo. Court.

-- Aurora Shooting Suspect Looked Like A Fellow Officer, Police Say.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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