Story highlights
A judge rules that jury selection will begin on January 20
The movie theater shooting trial has been delayed several times
James Holmes is accused of killing 12 people in a shooting rampage in Aurora, Colorado
Jury selection in the trial of James Holmes, the suspect in the 2012 Colorado movie theater shooting, won’t begin until January, a judge ruled Monday.
The delay gives Holmes’ defense team more time to review a court-ordered sanity examination and prepare for the trial. His attorneys had asked for a longer delay in the trial, Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. said in his order. But the judge said he “refuses to unnecessarily delay this case.”
Jury selection will begin January 20, and attorneys should be prepared to make opening statements on June 3, Samour said.
It could take up to four months to pick a jury in the death penalty trial, he said.
Holmes is accused of opening fire inside a packed movie theater in Aurora during a midnight showing of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” in July 2012, killing 12 people.
He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 166 charges he faces in the rampage.
The trial has been delayed several times. It was originally set to begin in August 2013.
Holmes’ attorneys argued in a motion filed last year that their client “suffers from severe mental illness and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life.”
Last month, the parents of a woman killed in the shooting filed a lawsuit accusing online retailers who allegedly sold Holmes ammunition, body armor, tear gas and other equipment of negligence.
CNN’s Greg Botelho, Jennifer Feldman and Jessica Baker contributed to this report.