Aurora shooting suspect was banned from campus over threats

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/23/aurora-shooting-suspect-campus-threats

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Prosecutors say the suspect in the Aurora theater shooting made threats and was banned from the University of Colorado after failing a key exam six weeks earlier.

They made the accusations about James Holmes in court Thursday as they tried to convince a judge to let them see records from the university, where Holmes had been a graduate student.

Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others in the 20 July shooting at an Aurora theater.

They also claim professors had urged Holmes to get into another line of work before the shooting. Attorney Karen Pearson didn't disclose where their information came from.

Defense lawyer Daniel King objected to the release of the records, calling the prosecution's request a "fishing expedition".

Holmes is a former neuroscience doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado. Prosecutors are seeking copies of 100 pages of non-medical education records subpoenaed by prosecutors and turned over last week by the school to Arapahoe County district judge William Sylvester. Defense attorneys are seeking to suppress the subpoena and have asked that nobody, even Sylvester, examine the documents.

Defense attorney Tamara Brady's legal reasoning about why Holmes' educational records should be off limits is unavailable. That portion of the court file remains sealed.

Prosecutors said in court that they need the documents to gain access to a notebook reportedly containing violent descriptions of an attack. The notebook reportedly was in a package sent to CU psychiatrist Lynne Fenton.

Defense attorney Daniel King has said the notebook is protected by a doctor-patient relationship. King claims that Holmes is mentally ill and sought Fenton for help with that illness. Fenton is expected to testify at a hearing on 30 August.