Posted on 07/27/2012 7:12:30 PM PDT by RummyChick
The suspected Batman massacre gunman was seeing a psychiatrist specialising in schizophrenia before the attack that killed 12 in Colorado, court documents show.
The motion named Dr Lynn Fenton as defence lawyers sought to gain access to a package James Holmes had mailed to her prior the July 20 mass shooting, which also wounded 58 people.
Reports surfaced on Wednesday that Holmes - who recently dropped out of the University of Colorado - had sent a notebook to a university psychiatrist that included details and drawing of his plans to kill people.
There were conflicting reports about whether the package reached the school in time to potentially prevent the massacre, but officials remained tight-lipped due to a strict gag order imposed by the judge overseeing the case.
Judge William Sylvester unsealed some court filings on Friday after defence lawyers argued that Holmes' constitutional rights had been violated by the "breach of confidentiality and privilege" and sought "sanctions for this misconduct".
In a preview of likely battles to come, the defence lawyers also argued that the contents of the package should not be used as evidence because "Mr Holmes was a psychiatric patient of Dr Fenton, and his communications with her are protected".
Fenton teaches at the University of Colorado's medical school and heads student mental health services there in addition to conducting research into schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
Prosecutors rebuffed the defence motion, arguing that news stories about the package contained significant factual errors and that there was no evidence the government was responsible for the leaks.
They also indicated that a FoxNews.com report that the package contained a notebook "full of details about how he was going to kill people" was incorrect.
Reports that the police "are currently examining the contents of the box" are "untrue, as the contents were secured and not examined," prosecutors said.
Holmes, who was studying neuroscience in a doctoral program at the University of Colorado, Denver is expected to be formally charged at his next court hearing on Monday.
Sylvester ordered a hearing on the defence motions also be held on that day.
The alleged gunman gained access to the movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado outside Denver via a fire exit shortly after the screening of The Dark Knight Rises began and threw two canisters of noxious gas into the auditorium, witnesses said.
After firing one round directly into the air with a pump-action shotgun, he began shooting people at random with a military-style assault rifle capable of firing 50 to 60 rounds a minute.
Authorities say Holmes - who had dyed his hair a reddish orange - claimed he was The Joker, Batman's sworn enemy in the comic book series that inspired director Christopher Nolan's film trilogy, which features British-born actor Christian Bale as "the caped crusader".
He gave himself up outside the cinema, still clad in the body armour witnesses described the gunman wearing.
Authorities said Holmes booby-trapped his apartment with the aim of killing anyone who went outside, likely targeting police and first responders.
It was days before neighbours were allowed back in the three-story building.
Holmes, 24, is being held in solitary confinement at the Arapahoe County Detention Center and could face the death penalty if convicted, although Colorado has only executed one person since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
So, how did his pass the background firearm checks?
So, how did he pass the background firearm purchase checks?
So, first question, how were the contents secured but not examined ...yet they were leaked.
Should the notebook be inadmissible since it was sent to his Dr?
I think the answer is yes.
String her up, along with Ward Churchill and the CU enablers.
HIPPA. Health care workers can no longer report specific persons who wish to harm themselves or others to the police.
meds? is this by any chance a ritalin child?
“In September 2004, Dr. Fenton received an admonition from Colorado’s board of medical examiners for prescribing medications — including the allergy medication Claritin, the sleeping pill Ambien, two tranquilizers and the narcotic painkiller Vicodin — for a few colleagues and her husband on several occasions, and failing to keep proper documentation of the prescriptions. The board noted in its admonition letter that Dr. Fenton was no longer writing prescriptions for people who were not her patients. “
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/us/colorado-suspect-was-getting-psychiatric-care.html
Gee. there’s a surprise.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/how-to/identify-prohibited-persons.html
“...who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;”
Just seeing a shrink doesn’t lose one their rights. I suppose that will be changed now...
He may not be a schizophrenic but assume that he is...how did he get a grant?
That guy in A Beautiful Mind was a paranoid schizophrenic
The BATFE Form needs to include a question as to being under the care of a Zzsychiatrist of Zzychologist. That would exclude most ‘rats.
(My bad.)
it’s gonna look bad when they find out she was sleeping with him.
As Zer0 has said (in the past with his Choom Gang) “Interception!”.
And now we know what “sensible” gun control measures will come from this. They’ll tell us that guns should not be sold to anyone under the care of a psychiatrist or on anti-depressants or with a history of taking any mood-altering prescription drugs.
So, all those folks who got Ritalin as a child because of lazy parents and teachers will find themselves suddenly disarmed. Tell you doctor that you’ve been feeling sad lately, and you’ll get a knock on the door from the county Sheriff to take custody of your firearms.
They could probably disarm 25% of the country this way and Obamacare will give them easy access to your records. For your own safety, of course.
she’s married, at least in 2004.
I believe you have to have been involuntarily commited or judged incompetent by a court.
Fenton was given grants to study schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia can be a vicious mental disease but as we have seen with Nancy Pelosi, schizophrenics can get high paying jobs, although at times it can be strange such as the time Nancy declared herself “The most powerful woman in the world” and demanded an Air force 1 jet of her own when she became Speaker.
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