James Holmes psychiatrist warned police he was a threat before Colorado massacre
Dr. Lynne Fenton, the psychiatrist who had treated James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 in Colorado cinema massacre, had before warned police he was a danger to the public.
Dr. Lynne Fenton told police of threatening text messages James Holmes sent after he stopped attending counseling, newly released court documents show.
James Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of murder in the attack during a premier of a Batman film at Aurora theatre.
Prosecutors have rejected a guilty plea and seek the death penalty.
The trial had been scheduled for August, but a judge has pushed it back to February 2014.
Dr Lynne Fenton told police of threatening text messages James Holmes sent after he stopped attending counseling
In an affidavit taken after the shooting and unsealed on Thursday, University of Colorado Denver police Officer Lynn Whitten told investigators that Dr. Lynne Fenton had contacted her in June.
Dr. Lynne Fenton was following a legal requirement to report a specific threat to authorities, according to the document.
Lynn Whitten said the psychiatrist was making the report “due to homicidal statements [James Holmes] had made” and that Dr. Lynne Fenton said he sent threatening text messages to her after he stopped attending counseling sessions.
James Holmes was a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver but was withdrawing from his studies after failing a key exam.
Previous reports said Dr. Lynne Fenton had told campus authorities about James Holmes, but not that she had made a report of specific threats.
A warrant also unsealed on Thursday described a package sent to Dr. Lynne Fenton before the massacre, apparently by James Holmes. It included a brown notebook labeled “Of Life” that officials believe to be a journal, as well as partially burned $20 bills.
The documents were previously sealed, but a new judge overseeing the case ordered them released following requests from media organizations.
Separately, Judge William Sylvester has removed himself from the case after prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty.
Judge William Sylvester said the move meant the case would take up so much time that he could not carry out his administrative duties as chief judge of a busy four-county district.
District Judge Carlos Samour took over the case on Monday.
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