Judge OKs trial for alleged theater shooter

DENVER -- A judge ruled late yesterday that there's enough evidence for James Holmes to face trial on charges that he killed 12 people and injured 70 others in a Colorado movie theater last summer.

Judge William Sylvester said prosecutors have established probable cause to proceed with all 166 felony counts they filed against him, including first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder with extreme indifference and attempted murder. He ordered that Holmes continue to be held without bail.

Holmes is to be arraigned today, but his defense attorneys filed papers yesterday afternoon saying he's not ready to enter a plea. Sylvester noted Holmes' attorneys were likely to ask today that the arraignment be delayed.

The filing by defense attorneys also objected to media requests to bring cameras into the courtroom. Other than during his brief initial appearance in July, cameras have been barred during Holmes' case.

Sylvester's ruling came after a three-day hearing this week in which prosecutors laid out their case against Holmes, 25. A succession of police and federal agents testified that Holmes spent weeks amassing guns and ammunition, concocted explosives to booby-trap his apartment and scouted the movie theater where he would allegedly unleash a devastating attack on hundreds of terrified people.

The officers also described a hellish scene inside the theater on July 20, when 12 people were shot to death.

Holmes' lawyers called no witnesses but pointedly raised the issue of Holmes' sanity at strategic moments, possibly foreshadowing his defense. -- AP