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Judge allows prosecutors university records of suspected theater gunman

Posted at 3:29 PM, Aug 29, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-29 15:29:38-04

AURORA, Colo. — The Arapahoe County judge presiding over the trial of the man suspected of killing 12 and injuring 58 others at an Aurora movie theater has released some of the suspect’s education records to prosecutors Wednesday.

Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester initially ruled James Holmes’ university records, which are confidential, would be blacked out in the case. But at a hearing last week, prosecutors argued they needed about 100 pages of educational records from the University of Colorado’s Denver campus.

According to prosecutors, the documents are needed to establish a motive for the attack they say Holmes committed at a July 20 movie premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Lawyers for the prosecution have said these documents will prove Holmes failed an exam that led to his release from a graduate neuroscience program and made violent threats long before the shooting.

These documents may serve to debunk an insanity defense that Holmes’ attorneys appear poised to present.