CREDIT: REUTERS/ANDY CROSS/POOL
A judge overseeing murder proceedings against accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes ruled on Wednesday that evidence linking bullet fragments and shell casings to weapons belonging to Holmes will be allowed at trial.
Attorneys defending the onetime neuroscience doctoral candidate accused of killing 12 moviegoers and wounding 70 others two years ago had sought to preclude the testimony from his upcoming murder trial, arguing that firearms analysis is subjective and not based on scientific fact.
But Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour ruled that he will allow an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to testify that he traced the ballistics evidence to three firearms owned by Holmes.
Holmes, 26, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder and attempted murder charges linked to the July 2012 shooting during a midnight screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” in a suburban Denver theater.