CENTENNIAL, Colo. ā A mother, a father and a daughter share a laugh Monday as they speak to each other in hushed whispers. A father shares his orange Tic Tacs and the rest of his bag of candy. Itās a picture of a happy familyāor what could have beenāhad they not been sitting two rows behind a man on trial for his life. A man they called son, brother.
Chris Holmes, defendant James Holmesā younger sister, joined her parents for the first time at the Arapahoe County Courthouse since the Aurora theater shooting trial began on April 27. She wore black skinny jeans, a light grey-brown shirt and a vest. Years before the shooting, Chris Holmes wrote a song titled āWalking Down Death Row.ā Her lyrics included: āIām praying to God, āPlease save my soul.'ā
During the 22 hours of psychiatric video shown last week, Dr. William Reid mentioned Chris Holmes had not written her brother and only visited once.
Her brother killed 12 people and injured 70 on July 20, 2012 when he opened fire at the midnight premiere of āThe Dark Knight Rises.ā
Monday marked the trialās 27th day, and it featured testimony fromĀ forensic psychiatrist Jeffery Metzner. In a dramatic close before the lunch break, he declared the Aurora theater shooter was legally sane the night he opened fire.
āHaving homicidal thinking doesnāt mean you canāt tell the difference between right and wrong,ā Metzner said.
Reid had come to the same conclusion and stated that last week in court.
In 2013, the court found Metznerās assessment incomplete, despite his 35 years in the field. The court assigned another psychiatrist, Reid, to the case.
On Monday, Metzner pointed to the defendantās journal as well as Gmail chats and text messages to demonstrate an understanding on the defendantās part of illegality and moral wrong doing.
In a Gmail chat sent on March 25, 2012, the shooter writes he was āthinking about doing something evil.ā
The defendant reached his Rubicon when he called the mental health department of the University of Colorado and decided to hang up the phone.
It was a ālast chance to turn back,ā the defendant said. āI donāt know. Doubts, I guess.ā
Metzner clarified the difference between having the capacity to know right from wrong and choosing to act despite that understanding.
āHe didnāt consider the morality but he had the capacity to,ā Metzner said.
Daniel King, one of the lead defense attorneys, cross-examined Metzner. He probed for a deeper explanation of psychosis, which established that Metzner did believe the defendant was psychotic the night of the shooting.
āThereās no doubt Holmes was genetically loaded for schizoaffective disorder,ā King said.
Metzner agreed, citing a family history saturated with serious mental illness.
One jury member got sick during the testimony, so Judge Carlos Samour Jr. allowed for an additional 20-minute break.
Here is Chris Holmesā song āWalking Down Death Rowā: