Wearing shackles in court would make the Aurora theater shooter appear guilty to a jury, argued the shooterâs attorneys in June 2013, almost a year after the July 20 rampage that left 70 injured and 12 dead.
Today, both the defense and the prosecution â the latter aim to put the defendant to death â recited words from the killerâs notebook, further revealing meticulous and calculated plans to murder movie-goers. The defendantâs guilt is not in question; his sanity is.
A person suffering from mental illness, particularly schizophrenia, is not necessarily unable to plan or exhibit thoughts or actions of intelligence, according to Kathryn Boughton, a graduate student of criminology at Regis University.ÌęBoughton is developing a thesis related to this trial and the insanity plea, and she spent a year and a half participating in forensic interviews for public, private and government organizations, including patients at the Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.
âWith (schizophrenia), not all facets of cognitive ability or daily events are affected,âÌę Boughton said.
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The shooter mailed the notebook to his former psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, hours before beginning his killing spree. A bubble-wrapped envelope with the shooterâs information in the return address space contained the notebook and 20 burned $20 bills.
Joyce and Stephen Singular, co-authors of the book âThe Spiral Notebook,â said they believe the money is a symbol connected to the Batman movie character âThe Jokerâ.ÌęÌęThe Singulars spoke with numerous mental health and legal professionals in their research and writing process. They said the notebook is the âhowâ and the âwhyâ behind the crime, and theyâve been waiting years to know the contents of the item theyâve based their book on.
âIn âThe Dark Knight,â the Joker stashes millions of dollars and burns them,â Stephen Singular said. â(The shooter) may have tried to distance himself from the Joker subsequently, but he was patterning his behavior after (the character).â
In his compositions, the defendant wrote that he âembraced the hatred,â shortly followed by, âa dark knight rises.â Neither the prosecution nor the defense asserted connections between the Batman movie and the defendantâs writings today in court. Rather, they focused on mental health, general cognition and evidence of premeditation.
On one page of the composition book the defendant listed his perceived symptoms of a self-diagnosed mental illness. Symptoms included: catatonia, excessive fatigue, isolationism, brief periods of feeling invincible, having quick and fleeting movements, an inability to communicate thoughts in words and difficulty concentrating for more than 15 minutes at a time.
The portion of the court galley designated for victims and victimsâ families was full today. One victimâs mother held a tissue to her face for nearly 20 minutes as lawyers read aloud from the notebook, dictating the minute details of the shooterâs thought processes and plans during the months leading up to the mass killing.
Every member of the jury received a photocopied version of the notebook to follow along with as Aurora Police Sergeant Matt Fyles read excerpts aloud. The jurors appeared engaged with, if not outright distracted by, the photocopied notebooks. At one point during Fylesâ testimony, the judge reminded the jury that they would have time to read through the notebook on their own at a later time and that they must pay attention to Sgt. Fyles for the time being.
Defense Attorney Dan King reciting from Holmesâ spiral notebook with Sgt. Matt Fyles confirming quotes.
The composition book also contained self-reflective statements like, âI view myself as divided,â and referred to a âreal meâ and a âbiological me.â The writing is intelligent, morbid and philosophical in nature. It also showed the shooterâs research of anticipated police response-time to the theater, as well as his deliberation on the best theater to shoot in based on physical space, the number of exit doors and the ability to maximize the number of casualties.
The defendant considered an airport as his shooting scene but decided that it had too much security and would appear as an act of terrorism, as revealed by the notebook.
âTerrorism isnât the message,â the shooter wrote. âThere is no message.â
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Notes also revealed that the killer presumed people would rationalize his actions as a reaction to âwork failuresâ but that those were just âexpediting catalysts.â The real reason for his âmass murder/spreeâ was his âstate of mind over the last 15 years.â
In preliminary hearings, the court learned from a forensic detective that the defendant web-searched the term, ârational insanityâ in the months before the shooting, as well as other terms related to weapons, firearms, ammunition and movie theaters.
âCrazy or not crazy, he has a first-rate mind,â Stephen Singular said. âHe was analyzing how people are going to interpret these events after they occur.â
âHe may have thought theyâd be reading this book in court some day,â Joyce Singular said.
In addition to the introduction of the notebookâs content, more victims took the stand today, including Gordon Cowdenâs daughter, Brooke. Cowden died in the theater the night of the shooting. Deceased victim A.J. Boikâs girlfriend at the time of his murder also took the stand.
Though much of the testimony is becoming cumulative, the court can expect to hear from as many victims as there are willing to testify. The prosecution has cited the Colorado Constitutional Amendment for victims of crime on numerous occasions over the nearly three year duration of the prosecution of the theater shooter:
Any person who is a victim of a criminal act, or such personâs designeeâŠshall have the right to be heard when relevant, informed, and present at all critical stages of the criminal justice process. COLO. CONST., ART. 2 SECT. 16 (a)Ìę
Editorâs Note: CU News Corps will remember the victims of the tragedy with every post via this graphic.
