Roundup: No more delays in Colorado shooter trial: judge

The Colorado judge presiding over the trial of accused midnight movie shooter James Holmes has said enough is enough, and after two-and-a-half years, the trial will begin next Tuesday.

On Wednesday Judge Carlos Samour denied a continuance by defense lawyers who contended they needed more time to analyze 1,600 documents, several CDs, and a DVD they received from the prosecution last week.

"(The) defense fails to identify a single document or disk that contains surprising information ... is prejudicial, or that impacts the defense' s strategy at trial or any of its theories of the case," Samour wrote.

Holmes, a 27-year-old former neuroscience graduate student, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity after admitting he sprayed bullets into a Batman movie theater crowd, killing 12 and wounding 58 in the July 2012 shooting rampage, considered one of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

Defense lawyers say Holmes was in "the throes of a psychotic episode," but prosecutors have charged Holmes with 166 counts of first-degree and attempted murder and have said they will seek the death penalty for the Southern California native if he is convicted.

"The defense will do anything it can to prolong Holmes's life, and that's part of the process," said criminal defense lawyer Craig Silverman, who prosecuted the last successful death penalty case in Colorado.

The trial has been delayed six times because of legal issues, but next week the first of 9,000 potential jurors will arrive at the Arapahoe County Courthouse to begin the jury selection process that may take several months.

The massive jury pool is said to be the largest in U.S. history, with one-in-50 people possibly eligible in Arapahoe County, a suburb south if Denver.

Samour earlier told attorneys for both sides to be prepared to present their opening statements in late May or early June for the actual trial.

Last week Samour also ruled that videos of Holmes as a child and writings about his mental condition the defense sought to introduce at a possible sentencing hearing will not be allowed. He agreed with prosecutors that the evidence was hearsay and by allowing it, they would lose the ability to cross-examine witnesses. Endi