James Holmes Court Appearance (Video)

James Holmes, "alleged" Aurora shooter, made his first court appearance.

Here's video:



From FOX News:

The man accused of going on a deadly shooting rampage at the opening of the new Batman movie appeared Monday in court for the first time.

James Holmes, 24, who is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others inside a packed movie theater in Aurora, Colo., will be formally charged next Monday. He is being held without bond.

Holmes, who did not speak, sat in a maroon jailhouse jumpsuit as the judge advised him of the case. He appeared wide-eyed with bright reddish orange hair.

Holmes has been held in solitary confinement at an Arapahoe County detention facility since Friday. He is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and he could also face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations.

Authorities say the former graduate student is refusing to cooperate and it could take months to learn what prompted the horrific attack on moviegoers at a midnight screening of the latest Batman film.

During the attack, Holmes allegedly set off gas canisters and used a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol to open fire, police said.

The semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack, forcing the gunman to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch might have saved some lives.

District Attorney Carol Chambers said Monday that her office is considering pursuing the death penalty against Holmes. She said a decision will be made in consultation with victims' families.

So, there he is.

I'm having flashbacks of the Dahmer murders, seeing Jeffrey Dahmer in the courtroom.

I don't like that these monsters become celebrities in a sense.

I'm sure Holmes is smart enough to know that his name and his story are now immortal. He's achieved something "special."

It's sickening.

I understand why family members of the victims requested that Holmes' name not be mentioned at yesterday's memorial.

Elected officials speaking at the memorial avoided saying his name.

The names of the dead from Friday's midnight movie massacre were spoken, but that of their alleged killer was not as grief-stricken residents gathered for a vigil Sunday, just two days after a gunman shot up a crowded movie theater and plunged this Denver suburb into despair.

With a helicopter circling high above and snipers watching from nearby rooftops, the specter of violence loomed even as young and old pulled together to speed the healing process. Boy Scouts passed out water and grim-faced police officers stood by as speakers, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, vowed that Aurora would honor its dead and care for its wounded following the horrific attack that left 12 dead and scores injured.

"We will remember," the crowd intoned with solemn determination after Hickenlooper ticked off the names of each of those killed. He drew thunderous applause when he said of suspect James Holmes, "I refuse to say his name."

Obama, speaking at the memorial, didn't say Holmes' name either.

I like the fact that they aren't playing into Holmes' obvious desire to become a larger-than-life character.

I think it showed respect for the victims and their loved ones to not even mention the murderer's name. The focus deserved to be on the good people, the innocent victims and the heroes, not the monster inflicting such horror.

Unfortunately, Holmes has a place in our history.

That's unavoidable.

Holmes has played the media and our culture.

The president can't show up at a memorial event or release photos of himself visiting the shooting victims in the hospital without drawing attention to Holmes and elevating his stature.

We've had the summer of shark attacks and the summer of Natalee Holloway.

There's always a media obsession.

It seemed this was destined to be the summer of drought.

Now, it looks like we may be stuck with this. I suspect Holmes would be pleased.

I wish the media would focus on the economy, the big stuff.

Team Obama must be glad the shootings in Aurora have taken some of the heat off them, distracting from Obama's many failures. (I DO NOT MEAN TO SUGGEST IN ANY WAY THAT OBAMA AND HIS TEAM ARE GLAD THE SHOOTINGS OCCURRED. Of course not, but there is an undeniable political benefit.)

I don't like the media circus surrounding these things. I don't like the politicizing of everything, by those on the Left and the Right. I don't like the exploitation.

This isn't a movie. For many, for most, it's just a story in the news, albeit a terrible one. It's an abstraction. It's not a concrete experience, lived out in a personal way.

That's why it's so important to remember that real people have lost their lives. Their loved ones are emotionally wounded. They are grieving. There are so many victims, so much loss, so much pain.

My heart breaks for them. I pray for them.

I don't think the media and politicians and people with a political agenda to push handle these things well. It's all so unseemly.

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

--RAHM EMANUEL

Wrong.

You never want to abuse others' suffering. You never want to show a lack of compassion. You never want to exploit the agony of others.