“Theater Shooting Jury Won’t See Holmes Talk About ‘Shadows’ ”

The lead prosecutor in Colorado’s movie massacre trial attacked the testimony of the defense’s star witness on Wednesday, challenging her diagnosis that the gunman, James Holmes, suffers schizophrenia and could not tell right from wrong.

In this image taken from video, accused Colorado theater shooter James Holmes, second from left, listens to testimony by Dr. Raquel Gur, right, during his trial, in Centennial, Colo., Monday, July 6, 2015. District Attorney George Brauchler immediately launched an aggressive attack on Gur’s credibility, questioning the accuracy of the notes she took on her meetings with Holmes and suggesting she came to a hasty conclusion about his mental illness and sanity.

When public defender Daniel King questioned Gur a second time, he noted that Brauchler’s lengthy questioning touched little on Gur’s findings, which were that Holmes was insane at the time of the killings.

“My report does not include every word that I exchanged with Mr. Holmes”, the psychiatrist responded. Gur retorted that Brauchler was taking the statement out of context.

So far, two court-appointed psychiatrists have said that Holmes was severely mentally ill during the shooting but legally sane.

Prosecutors questioned that testimony vigorously, pointing out that Woodcock had made his determination before interviewing people like Holmes’ parents or discussing the planning of the attack with Holmes.

He began to believe he could replenish his own worth only by killing others, Gur said. “He wanted to stop the thoughts that had bothered him for years”.

“He did not feel mad”, Gur said. She interviewed Holmes for 28 hours, more than any other psychiatric witness. Gur said she could not remember.

Gur also has evaluated Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Jared Loughner, who killed six people and wounded 13 more near Tucson, Arizona, in 2011. She pointed to Holmes’ family history of schizophrenia and that he would freeze in social situations.

“The severity and intensity of his psychosis”, she said, “was so high, so severe, as to render him incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong”.