Colorado movie gunman's defense close to wrapping up case
By Keith Coffman
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Defense lawyers trying to spare the life of Colorado movie massacre gunman James Holmes neared the end of their case on Thursday, with their star witness sticking to her diagnosis he was legally insane when he planned and carried out the attack.
"Would you put your reputation on the line and testify falsely in a case of this magnitude?" lead defense attorney Daniel King asked Raquel Gur, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Schizophrenia Research Center.
"Absolutely not!" fired back Gur.
"The delusions have propelled him to commit this act," she told jurors, after four grueling days on the stand. "I do not believe that without the delusions, and without being mentally ill, this would have ever happened."
The state statute requires prosecutors to prove Holmes was sane when he rigged his apartment with explosives, donned body armor and a helmet, then sprayed bullets at the crowd watching a Batman film at a Denver-area multiplex.
The 27-year-old former neuroscience graduate student has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple charges of first degree murder and attempted murder.
Defense lawyers say Holmes suffers from schizophrenia and thought his massacre of moviegoers would boost his "human capital," or self-worth.
Prosecutors say he is a methodical mass murderer who carried out the rampage because he had lost his girlfriend, career, and purpose in life, and that he hid his preparations for the attack from psychiatrists at the University of Colorado.
Gur testified on Tuesday that schizophrenia meant Holmes was not in control of his actions.
A severe defect in his brain prevented him from knowing right from wrong, said Gur, who once examined Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Arizona mass shooter Jared Loughner, and was also called by the White House to serve on a task force following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
She said she had no doubt Holmes' severe psychosis, combined with his "gifted" level of intelligence, his struggles adapting to graduate school, and the break-up with his first girlfriend, forged a "perfect storm" that led to the massacre.
The prosecution challenged her conclusion and methodology, in cross-examination that extended over three days.
District Attorney George Brauchler repeatedly attacked Gur's diagnosis, noting that Holmes told doctors and police he took extensive steps to booby-trap his home and prepare for the attack, including taking Vicodin painkillers in case he got shot.
Didn't that prove the gunman could think two or three steps ahead, make complicated decisions, and control his supposed compulsion to kill, Brauchler asked Gur.
It was all part of his delusional "mission," she replied.
Gur, co-author of "If Your Adolescent Has Schizophrenia: An Essential Resource for Parents," also faced multiple questions posed in writing by jurors and read by the judge, including why she did not take more detailed notes of her six meetings with Holmes, and whether she ever felt he was being manipulative.
Gur said there were no signs of that, and she said her interview technique involved noting important points, while also listening to the defendant and encouraging him to open up.
Two court-appointed psychiatrists have testified that, while the defendant is severely mentally ill, he was legally sane when he planned and carried out the massacre.
(Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and David Gregorio)
