"Judge orders 2nd sanity exam in theater shooting," is the AP report filed by Dan Elliott, via the San Francisco Chronicle.
The man accused of killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater shooting must undergo a second sanity evaluation by the state mental hospital because the first was "incomplete and inadequate," a judge has ruled.
Wednesday's decision means a months-long delay in James Holmes' case, which has already been in the courts for a year and a half.
The key finding of the first evaluation, whether Holmes was sane at the time of the attack, has not been made public, but prosecutors asked for the second review, claiming the first was flawed. They are seeking the death penalty, and Holmes' fate likely hangs on whether the jury decides he was insane at the time of the shooting.
And:
In his 50-page ruling, District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ruled the first review was based on insufficient data and reached some unsupported conclusions. Much of his explanation was redacted, with all or parts of 26 pages blacked out.
Holmes' first evaluation was conducted last summer. Samour said it took three months and the psychiatrist, Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, interviewed Holmes for 25 hours.
"Judge orders new psychiatric exam for James Holmes," is by John Ingold in the Denver Post.
James Holmes will undergo a second court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, after the judge overseeing the Aurora movie theater murder case ruled that the first exam was "incomplete and inadequate."
In an order issued Wednesday, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour agreed with prosecutors that the psychiatrist who performed the first exam, Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, didn't sufficiently explain how he reached his conclusions about Holmes' sanity on the night of the shooting.
"[A]lthough Dr. Metzner collected and documented a lot of factual information as part of his examination, he offered little rationale for some of his opinions and findings," Samour wrote. "... The bases for Dr. Metzner's opinion regarding the issue of sanity are just as important to the truth-finding process as the opinion itself."
However, Samour rejected the prosecution's request that the new evaluation be conducted by doctors hired by the prosecution. Instead, Samour ordered officials at the Colorado Mental Health Institute, who appointed Metzner to conduct the first evaluation, to pick a new independent doctor for the second evaluation.
Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link. You can also jump to news of the Holmes case.
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