HOLMES003 – The James Holmes Trial That Never Happened

Yes, yes, yes, James Holmes actually had his day in court so please don’t get my words twisted here. I’m not saying there was never a trial. I’m simply saying the trial that SHOULD have happened may not have happened. Case in point. Typically the purpose of a trial is to establish proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a person did or did not commit a crime. In the case of James Eagan Holmes, this sort of trial would never happen. Why? Because no one, it seemed, had any question about WHO had committed the crime or even how. In fact, the killer himself had already confessed to it (if not outright bragged about it) numerous times. Therefore there was little need for your “typical” trial proving the guilt of James Holmes.

Normally a trial like this would have to establish motive and opportunity and a reasonable assertion that no one else could have done it. Under normal circumstances, a defense team only has to put forth a plausible alternative that suggests another person could have had motive and opportunity and thereby place a reasonable doubt in a jury’s mind as to whether it was suspect A or suspect B that committed the crime. THAT sort of trial, however, never happened. No alternative theories were presented. No one delved into the possibility of a false confession. In actuality, THIS trial was only about proving whether or not James Holmes was sane when he killed 12 and wounded 58 others on July 20, 2012.

In the months preceding to the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20^th, 2012, James Eagan Holmes was a brilliant doctoral candidate with a superior intellect.  He was one of only half a dozen students accepted that year into the University of Colorado’s coveted neurosciences degree program and was given a full ride scholarship.  As an undergraduate in San Diego California, James Holmes had graduated with honors and was universally well liked and well respected by his peers.  Just prior to the shooting, all indications were James Eagan Holmes had a long and brilliant career ahead of him, much like his father.  But then suddenly, and for no explainable reason, James Holmes would start to lose focus at school.  His grades would begin to drop, his girlfriend would break up with him, and James Holmes would inexplicably drop out of the program. Shortly after that he would heavily arm himself, dye his hair bright orange, and go on a mass killing spree in an effort to increase his self worth (or so the story says).

Immediately after the shooting there was something eerily different about James Holmes.  Instead of the bright happy go lucky honors student he once was, he appeared to be drugged, dazed and totally confused.  At first he would claim to have no memory of the shooting, and, in court days later would appear completely disoriented and unaware of his surroundings.  As Judge William Sylvester addressed James Holmes in court and informed him of the charges against him it was apparent James Holmes had no idea where he was or what was happening to him.  He was nearly catatonic and the whole world saw it on national television.   As the public began asking questions about his apparent “drugged” condition in the courtroom, judge William Sylvester made a quick decision to ban all television cameras from the courtroom and placed an unprecedented gag order on the entire case keeping nearly all of the pertinent facts out of public scrutiny for years to come.

Despite the fact that not a single eyewitness can positively identify James Holmes as the shooter that night (for the shooter was wearing head to toe tactical gear including helmet, eye, and throat protection) and despite multiple eyewitnesses accounts from that evening of additional shooters with different physical descriptions than James Holmes and despite the very words of local police and fire officials captured on audio recordings pursuing and detaining multiple suspects fleeing the theater, the “officials” in the case will insist that from day one James Holmes was the lone gunman and that there was no evidence of other suspects (a bold faced lie).

Had the early facts of the case been open to the public scrutiny, perhaps we would have had a much different trial. It’s possible we all would have reached the same conclusion in the end, but we’ll never get to know because the trial that SHOULD have happened never happened. Instead, witnesses were ordered not to talk to the press, families were ordered not to talk to the press, even the University where James Holmes attended school (and who had an obligation to reveal public records to the press) were ordered by the judge not to comply with press requests for his school records.  In all facets of investigation the public was completely shut out from seeing the early evidence for themselves.

As the days and weeks stretched on, the public (namely the internet community and people such as myself) began doing their own investigative research and found that the facts in the case did not match what the “official story” said had happened that night.  Crime scene photos from outside the theater for example indicated the very likely possibility of multiple shooters, eyewitness testimony caught on camera by local television crews the night of the shooting contradicted what the official story said happened and pointed to multiple accomplices and even the full audio recordings of the police and fire audio dispatch channels themselves from that night clearly did not corroborate the “lone gunman” theory.  Worse yet, law enforcement insiders were even caught lying to reporters about things James Holmes allegedly said and did that night (things they would later have to retract but only after public opinion had already formed).  Law enforcement officers would be caught tainting evidence and in one blatant case may even have planted evidence incriminating James Holmes.  Prison officials would be caught giving false testimony to things they heard James “confess” to in prison and at least one prison official went as far as to use a fake name and conduct a fake interview for television pretending to just have been an “inmate” who overheard damning confessions from the killer.

By the time the James Holmes trail did take place, neither the prosecution nor the court appointed defense were arguing James Holmes was the lone gunman. There would never be a trial to discuss whether or not there were other accomplices in the case or explain contradictory evidence to the lone gunman theory. The trial, when it did finally happen, was simply be to determine whether or not James Holmes was sane when he committed the crime. In a way, this blog is going to be the trial James Holmes SHOULD have had.