Judge postpones plea in Colorado shooting

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- A stunned silence settled over a courtroom yesterday after the father of a woman killed in the Colorado theater shootings loudly cursed defendant James Holmes, prompting a sympathetic but firm warning from a judge.

Steve Hernandez, whose daughter Rebecca Wingo, 32, was among the dead, shouted, "Rot in hell, Holmes!" moments after Judge William Sylvester gave Holmes two months to enter a plea.

The outburst capped an emotional week of often gruesome testimony about the July 20 shootings that left 12 dead.

Holmes, 25, was ordered late Thursday to stand trial on charges of murder and attempted murder after 2 1/2 days of testimony from police and federal agents about the attack.

Sylvester called Holmes back to court yesterday to enter a plea, but defense attorneys requested the delay, saying they would not be ready to do that until March.

That prompted a murmur of disbelief among about 40 survivors and family members of the victims in the gallery.

Sylvester granted the delay, saying he wanted to avoid giving the defense any opening to later appeal the case. -- AP