Colorado: Massacre Suspect Pursues Insanity Defense

Defense lawyers for James E. Holmes, the former graduate student charged with opening fire on a packed Aurora movie theater last summer, said in court filings Tuesday that he intended to plead not guilty by reason of insanity in the attack. Mr. Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and wounding dozens more, will enter the plea at hearing next week, his lawyers said. He faces 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges, and prosecutors announced last month that they intended to seek the death penalty. Earlier this year, after Mr. Holmes’s defense team said it was not ready to enter a plea, Judge William B. Sylvester entered a standard not guilty plea on Mr. Holmes’s behalf. But defense lawyers have long signaled they would mount an insanity defense, saying in court documents and during a preliminary hearing that Mr. Holmes was mentally ill at the time of the attack. A new judge in the case, Carlos A. Samour Jr., will rule on the plea change.