Taxpayer dollars funded Holmes rampage?

[SniperFire]

I wondered how a college kid could afford all of that nice mail order weaponry:



James Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, Received $26,000 Stipend Plus Tuition From NIH

The swell of emotion comes as new information about the suspect emerges. 9 News has learned that James Holmes was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health. It gave the graduate student a $26,000 stipend and paid his tuition for the highly competitive program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado in Denver.

It is difficult even to consider that taxpayer dollars may have helped fund his alleged rampage. '

James Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, Received $26,000 Stipend Plus Tuition From NIH | wusa9.com

 

[waltky]

CO Theater Shooting Suspect Offers Guilty Plea To Avoid Death...

Colo. theater shooting suspect offers guilty plea to avoid death, awaits prosecution response
March 27 — Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes has offered to plead guilty and serve the rest of his life in prison to avoid the death penalty — a deal that would bring a swift end to the sometimes wrenching courtroom battle and circumvent a prolonged debate over his sanity.

Prosecutors haven’t said whether they would accept the offer, and victims and survivors of last summer’s massacre were divided on what should be done. Melisa Cowden, whose ex-husband was killed in the theater, said Wednesday she was resolutely opposed to a plea deal. “He didn’t give 12 people the chance to plea bargain and say, ‘Let’s see if you’re going to shoot me or not,’” said Cowden, whose two teenage daughters were with their father when he was killed. “No. No plea bargain,” she said.

The attack during a crowded midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” left a dozen people dead and 70 injured. Prosecutors have said Holmes planned the assault for months, casing the theater complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora, amassing a small arsenal and rigging potentially deadly booby-traps in his apartment. Then on July 20, he donned a police-style helmet and body armor, tossed a gas canister into the theater crowd and opened fire, prosecutors said.

This March 12, 2013 file photo shows James Holmes, Aurora theater shooting suspect, in the courtroom during his arraignment in Centennial, Colo. Lawyers for Holmes are objecting to a Fox News reporter’s request to delay her court appearance to testify about her confidential sources, Tuesday, March 27, 2013.

The plea offer, made by Holmes’ lawyers on his behalf sometime before March 12, was disclosed a defense court filing on Wednesday. It was made public just days before the prosecution was set to announce whether they would seek the death penalty. The filing didn’t include the specifics of the offer. It said only that Holmes would agree to life in prison without parole — instead of the death penalty — and didn’t mention any other concessions.

Pierce O’Farrill, who was shot three times, said he would welcome an agreement that would imprison Holmes for life. The years of court struggles ahead would likely be emotionally stressful for victims, he said. “I don’t see his death bringing me peace,” O’Farrill said. “To me, my prayer for him was that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and hopefully, in all those years he has left, he could find God and ask for forgiveness himself.”

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[BreezeWood]

It is difficult even to consider that taxpayer dollars may have helped fund his alleged rampage.

... SniperFire would have been outraged if he were not alowed to buy Firearms with his $26,000 stipend.


Melisa Cowden, whose ex-husband was killed in the theater, said Wednesday she was resolutely opposed to a plea deal. “He didn’t give 12 people the chance to plea bargain and say, ‘Let’s see if you’re going to shoot me or not,’”


10/4 - no need for a trial, just shot it ...

 

[waltky]

James Holmes evidence speaks volumes...

What evidence found in James Holmes’ apartment says about him
5 Apr.`13 - Chemical formulas written on index cards. More than 1,700 rounds of ammunition. Tactical gear.

While accused killer James Holmes’ attorneys have said he's mentally ill, the items investigators recovered from his apartment send a strong signal that he was not mentally debilitated, a former FBI profiler tells Yahoo News. “Let’s put the labels aside and look at the behavior,” says Mary Ellen O'Toole, who worked for 15 years in the bureau's Behavioral Analysis Unit where she studied psychopaths and helped capture killers. Holmes, a former neuroscience student at the University of Colorado at Denver, is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 58 others when he opened fire inside a packed Aurora, Colo., movie theater nine months ago. Previously sealed evidence logs and related search warrants from the investigation were made public on Thursday.

An FBI agent photographs the bedroom of alleged gunman James Holmes.

At Yahoo News’ request, O'Toole—who retired in 2009 and has no direct connection to the case—reviewed 17 pages of items taken from Holmes’ apartment. “There were items he needed to carry out his game plan,” O’Toole said of the evidence. “They show the thinking and the logic and the strategy.” Bomb materials, supply lists, gun-cleaning tools all point to Holmes being in touch with reality, she said. “The amount of planning and thoughtfulness, and money and time that had to go into this is really reinforced here,” she added. “You can’t put together a list like this overnight.”

From his bathroom, police recovered Sertraline, an antidepressant, and Clonazepam, which is often used to treat anxiety, bipolar and panic disorders. Over-the-counter allergy, cold and pain medications were found as well. Investigators also removed 50 cans and bottles of beer, whiskey and rum. But finding the pills and booze doesn’t prove that Holmes was consuming them or consuming them as prescribed, O’Toole said. “If you’re a bombmaker, you don’t want to think fuzzy,” she said. “He couldn’t afford to make a mistake.” In addition to the theater shooting rampage, investigators have testified, Holmes tried to blow up his third-floor apartment to distract emergency workers from the theater.

Among other items police seized: