Courtroom sketch of Dr. Lynne Fenton and shooting suspect James Holmes (Bill Robles)
CENTENNIAL, Colo.—A University of Colorado therapist testified Thursday that she last saw James Holmes on June 11, nearly six weeks before he allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others during a midnight screening of the new Batman movie in Aurora.
But his defense attorneys argued that their professional relationship continued beyond the last therapy session and that prosecutors should not have access to a package he mailed to Dr. Lynne Fenton on July 19, the day before the movie theater massacre. The package, viewed by many as a crucial piece of evidence, reportedly contains a notebook with violent descriptions of an attack.
Prosecutors want access to the notebook, but the shooting suspect's lawyers maintain that the package is protected under doctor-patient confidentiality and should be returned to Holmes. The package remains sealed away in an Arapahoe County court clerk's office until Judge William Sylvester can rule on the relationship.
Fenton, a psychiatrist at the school where Holmes had been a neuroscience student until he withdrew on June 10, has been on the stand for more than an hour Thursday afternoon.
According to The Denver Post, she testified that she called a campus police officer about a patient on June 11, the last day she saw Holmes. Defense lawyers objected to Fenton's identifying which patient.
"I communicated with Officer Whitten to gather more information about this case and also to communicate my concerns," Fenton testified in court.
Holmes is also present at the hearing.
(Yahoo News staffer Tim Skillern contributed to this report from Centennial, Colo.)