New hearing set in case against Aurora movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes

Lawyers will discuss future hearings

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Sketch of James Holmes during Sept. 20, 2012 court hearing

In court in September, Holmes had short brown hair. The orange coloring is gone or faded. (Sketch: Bill Robles)
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Posted: 10/26/2012
Last Updated: 208 days ago

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -

Lawyers in the Colorado theater shooting are heading back to court for another hearing.

Thursday's hearing was originally scheduled for the judge to consider a request by the defense to delay to delay Holmes' preliminary hearing, where the judge would decide whether James Holmes should stand trial.

However, defense lawyers asked for more time to prepare to argue for a delay, and the judge granted it. He still ordered both sides to come to his courtroom Thursday to discuss scheduling matters.

A preliminary hearing, the step in the court process in which a judge determines if there is enough evidence to move to a trial, will likely be moved to either Jan. 7 or Feb. 4.

The defense has said they've received more than 18,000 pages of discovery and they were warned to expect tens or hundreds of thousands more.

The prosecution has said they wanted the preliminary hearing to occur as soon as possible, but also wanted to make sure victims from out of state had enough time to plan to attend if they desired.

Holmes is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the July 20 shootings in the Denver suburb of Aurora that killed 12 people and wounded at least 58.

Prosecutors say he opened fire in a packed movie theater during a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie.