A preliminary hearing for the Aurora theater massacre is expected to reveal new details as attorneys lay out the case against shooting suspect James Holmes. NBC News' Leanne Gregg reports.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
Prosecutors in Colorado will begin to outline their case Monday against the man accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 more in a shooting rampage July 20 at a screening of ?The Dark Knight Rises.?
The massacre at the midnight showing of the film, part of the Batman franchise, ended with James Holmes being arrested in the parking lot of the Century 16 Aurora theater, located in a Denver suburb.
Holmes, 25, a former University of Colorado doctoral student of neuroscience, is charged with more than 160 counts, including multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
During his preliminary hearing, expected to last a week, prosecutors will outline their murder case against Holmes and offer the public its first detailed glimpse into an investigation of one of the most chilling and deadly mass shootings in U.S. history.
Shooting suspect's biggest hearing yet
After this week's proceedings, prosecutors will decide whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
Legal analysts assume that Holmes will ultimately plead not guilty by reason of insanity, based on statements from his defense attorneys and in court filings.
Public defender Daniel King has said that his client suffers from an unspecified mental illness, and he has subpoenaed two witnesses for the hearing to testify about Holmes' mental state before the massacre, according to court documents.
Court hearing focuses on Holmes' notebook
Until last month's Newtown, Conn., tragedy, the Aurora multiplex massacre ranked as the bloodiest U.S. shooting of 2012, one of the nation's worst years for mass shootings in recent memory. Yet the circumstances of the movie killings stood out as a particularly shocking.
At an earlier hearing in the case, prosecutor Rich Orman said Holmes bought a ticket to the screening and minutes into the movie left the theater, propping open an exit door.
Holmes then donned protective ballistic gear and armed himself with numerous weapons, returned to the theater, lobbed a smoke canister into the crowd and opened fire before surrendering to police, authorities said.
The Denver suburb was shaken by gun violence again on Saturday when a lone gunman holed up in an Aurora townhouse shot three people to death and was killed hours later by police.
NBC News' John Newland, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ted S. Warren / AP
Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured when a gunman opened fire in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater.
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