Colorado movie gunman gave no sign of massacre plans: psychiatrist
By Keith Coffman
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - A university psychiatrist who treated Colorado movie massacre gunman James Holmes before the rampage said at his murder trial on Tuesday that Holmes had homicidal thoughts but gave no indication he was planning the attack.
In much-anticipated testimony, Dr. Lynne Fenton described meeting with the defendant several times when she was medical director for student mental health services at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Holmes dropped out of a neuroscience graduate program there just weeks before he opened fire in July 2012 with a handgun, shotgun and automatic rifle inside a packed midnight premiere of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises."
The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing 12 people and wounding 70. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
Fenton said Holmes was referred to her in mid-March 2012 after he called student mental health services and a social worker who met him described him as one of the most anxious people she had ever seen.
Fenton said Holmes admitted having homicidal thoughts, but she repeatedly said he told her nothing about having plans or targets, or having purchased teargas and handcuffs for the attack. Nor did he mention hearing voices, or suffering from mania, hallucinations or depression, she testified.
"If he had ... I likely would have placed him on a mental health hold and contacted the police," Fenton said.
She said her relationship with Holmes was "tentative," and that she felt pushing him too hard on his homicidal thoughts would be counterproductive. She said she had treated other patients who thought about killing, but never did it.
"I was worried he might drop out of treatment at any time," said Fenton, who has been sued by a victims' widow who says she had a duty to protect the public.
Two court appointed psychiatrists have testified that Holmes was sane when he planned and carried out the attack.
Fenton said Holmes "never met the criteria" for hospitalization. But she said she spoke with his mother in San Diego, and the university's Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment Team, about her concerns.
She says her relationship with Holmes ended in June 2012 when he lost access to the campus after threatening a professor.
Prosecutors say Holmes launched the attack because he lost his career, girlfriend and purpose in life. His public defenders say he suffers from schizophrenia.
At his final meeting with Fenton and another psychiatrist, on June 11, Holmes said he was quitting the neuroscience program after failing exams, but that he would get a job and probably see through the lease on his apartment until November.
"He seemed very relaxed ... (his plan) seemed logical and following society's rules, I guess," Fenton said.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Andrew Hay)
