The lawyers of Colorado theater shooter James Holmes just said in open court they they believe their client is suffering from a mental illness — and that they will need more time to figure out what’s wrong with him before entering a plea for his case.

According to reports, the attorneys of James Holmes made the announcement during a hearing on Thursday, where a lot of news outlets had gathered to argue that the judge in the case should release court documents that could reveal important details about the July shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

However, both the defense and prosecution panel wish to keep the court documents sealed while the mass murder case is pending.

While everyone was in court during the hearing, Holmes’ attorney also made an appeal to the judge on an unrelated matter — demanding, investigators and prosecutors to turn over all the court documents related to the case so that it would help the defense team determine the mental state of their client.

The lawyer of James Holmes said, “We cannot begin to assess the nature and the depth of Mr. Holmes’ mental illness until we receive full disclosure of all the documents.”

During the hearing, there was one outburst from a young woman with a shaved head, yelling at the judge that she had information important to James Holmes defense.

“He seems like he’s crazy, yes definitely,” said Miranda Norris, who was in the theater the night of “The Dark Knight Rises” shooting. “I’m just very angry at him. I just can’t understand how somebody can do this to people. How you can go out and murder people?”

The defense attorneys of James Holmes also told the court he sought help for his mental illness from University psychiatrist Lynne Fenton. It was said that Fenton reported concerns about Holmes to University of Colorado police. The university has since retained attorneys for Dr. Fenton and the police officer. But with the gag order in place, no one will comment on the matter.

The primary purpose of hearing on Thursday was to consider a request from the media to unseal court documents and to reduce the scope of the gag order. However, the defense attorney and the prosecutor insisted that it was most necessary to keep the information out of public view to ensure a fair trial.

Meanwhile, nearly three weeks after the shooting at the Colorado theater, six people are still in the hospital as of Thursday night. Two of them are currently in critical condition.

James Holmes should be sentenced to death after suffering behind the cold bars of prison for several years — this according to the brother of one of the victims in the Colorado theater shooting.

Media outlet TMZ was able to speak with Steven Hernandez, whose sister Rebecca Wingo was shot and killed in the massacre executed by James Holmes. Wingo was one of the 12 people who died in the mass killing during the midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” earlier this month. Rebecca left behind two young daughters.

According to prosecutors, they will consider pursuing the death penalty for James Holmes. However, they will not finalize the decision until they speak with the families of the victims.

Steven Hernandez seems to have made up his mind already. He said, “My sister Rebecca was killed in the theater. My mother is bereft, my wife is distraught and I am heartsick and angry.”

“Allow the justice system to punish this murderer. I want to see him sentenced to death and I hope he sits in jail many years waiting to die,” Steven Hernandez added.

As previous reports have stated, James Holmes has been charged with 142 counts for the movie theater shooting — which includes 24 counts of 1st degree murder.

The mother of one of James Holmes’ shooting victims has reportedly hired a high-powered attorney to file a lawsuit against the Aurora, Colorado movie theater where Holmes opened fire — resulting in 12 dead people and injuring 58 more.

According to reports, Shirley Wygal is maintaining a lawyer in Los Angeles to handle her case — and she is planning on going after the Century 16 Theater where the mass shooting of James Holmes occurred. It was reported that Shirley’s 32-year-old daughter Rebecca Wingo was one of the 12 killed in the movie theater.

Sources close to Shirley Wygal told media outlet TMZ that she believes the theater’s emergency exit doors should have been alarmed, or that there should have been security guards posted at the doors — especially for a premiere as anticipated as “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Witnesses claim that James Holmes walked into the theater using the emergency exit door and then started shooting at the moviegoers. The authorities think it is possible that he may have propped the door open earlier that evening from inside the movie theater.

Previous reports have stated that a survivor of the shooting spree is planning to file a similar lawsuit, but he also intends to go after Warner Bros. and the doctors of James Holmes.

TMZ tired reaching out to Cinemark, the theater’s corporate owners, but so far they have not gotten any response yet.

James Holmes, the suspect in the Colorado theater shooting, has just been officially charged with 24 counts of 1st degree murder — two counts for each of the 12 people he shot and killed during “The Dark Knight Rises” massacre on July 20.

According to reports, Holmes appeared in a Colorado courtroom during his hearing — still sporting a reddish, orange hair. He was also charged with 116 counts of attempted murder, two counts for each of the 58 people who were injured in the mass shooting.

James Holmes spoke in court for the first time during the 45-minute hearing, responding with a soft spoken “yes” when the judge asked him if he was OK with his lawyers requesting more time before his preliminary hearing.

As for the behavior of Holmes during the hearing, he reportedly stared blankly with his eyes wide open. One reported claims he seemed “peaceful and calm” and even appeared lucid and aware of everything that was going on around him.

All in all, James Holmes was slapped with 142 charges for the Colorado theater shooting, which includes one count of possessing an explosive device and one count of unlawful use of a deadly weapon.

Reports said that prosecutors are still undecided as of the moment if they will seek the death penalty — an option that is available in the State of Colorado.

The 24 counts of murder are said to have been split into two categories, which gave the prosecutors two options to nail James Holmes for first degree murder. They can either establish that Holmes acted with “extreme indifference to the value of human life” or that the Colorado theater shooting was premeditated.

Same deal also went for the 116 attempted murder charges — 58 counts of attempted murder with “extreme indifference” and 58 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

The next court date of James Holmes will be on the 9th of August.

Theatre massacre suspect James Holmes may have sent a notebook to his school detailing his plans of carrying out a massacre.

According to sources, a notebook that is believed to have been written by James Holmes was mailed to the University of Colorado — the school where the suspect had been a student before dropping out last month. Fox News reported that the alleged notebook was mailed to a specific psychiatrist at the university and that it contained “full details about how he was going to kill people, drawings of what he was going to do in it, and drawings and illustrations of the massacre.”

However, there have been conflicting reports on whether the notebook owned by James Holmes arrived at the university before or after the massacre at the Colorado theatre, but it was found later on Monday during a search of the mailroom.

As previous reports have stated, James Holmes is believed to have walked into the Aurora, Colorado theater donning a riot gear and brandishing at least three lethal weapons at the front of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie premiere around midnight on Friday. He allegedly set off two smoke bombs before shooting people at the movie theater using a handgun, shotgun and assault rifle. Twelve people died and 58 more were wounded during the mass slaughter.

The University of Colorado has not yet confirmed the existence of the note, but issued a statement saying that the “Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus can confirm that the suspicious package discovered at the Facilities Services building on Monday, July 23, 2012, was delivered to the campus by the United States Postal Service that same day.”

The university added that upon the discovery of the package containing the notebook, they prompted evacuation of the building for about 90 minutes starting at 12:26 in the afternoon. The university declined to tell whether James Holmes was seeing a psychiatrist, but campus officials asserted that they handled the case of Holmes correctly.

“To the best of our knowledge, we did everything we should have done,” the statement read.

The detail of the mailed notebook by Holmes is the latest addition to other information emerging about the theatre massacre suspect’s troubles at the University of Colorado, where he was reported to have gone down and transitioned from a successful and apparently happy student, to an accused mass murderer in just a few months. It was also reported that James Holmes struggled in terms of academics in the PhD program he enrolled in last fall.

ABC News affiliate KMGH reported that on June 7, just hours after he took his key oral exam with which he failed, James Holmes went to a sporting goods store and purchased a high-powered rifle, which added to his growing arsenal. Then, three days later, he reportedly withdrew from his PhD program without any explanation.

Experts told ABC News that it is possible James Holmes is suffering from a mental illness which has been made worse by the stress of failure.

Holmes was arrested in the parking lot just outside of the Aurora theater after the mass killing. He was wearing a gas mask, bullet proof vest and helmet, and all black clothing. He told the police that he was the “Joker,” a villain from the Batman movie,  “The Dark Knight.”

James Holmes will be arraigned on July 30 at the Aurora District Court in Colorado.

Theatre massacre suspect James Holmes was said to be just days from possibly getting booted off from his Colorado apartment when he fired several shots in a crowded movie house, killing 12 people instantly.

According to two neighbors of James Holmes in the apartment building where he lives, in order to live in the complex, you should be enrolled in the university. As soon as someone loses their student status, they only have 30 days to move out of the apartment.

The apartment building takes this rule seriously and checks the active status of residents every single month. James Holmes was said to be a University of Colorado student at one time, but the school officials said that he dropped out some time in June. As such, Holmes was just about at the end of his 30-day grace period to move out of his apartment when he decided to take an arsenal of weapons to a local movie theater (which was showing The Dark Knight Rises at the time) and opened fire to the people inside.

Media outlet TMZ tried to reach the apartment building’s management company and landlord several times for comment, but they have not responded yet.

Theater massacre suspect James Holmes has been reportedly rejected by three different women on an adult sex website that he is a member of — just days before he shot 70 people in Colorado.

Previous reports have stated that James Holmes was an active member of a website called AdultFriendFinder.com. Now, it was revealed that he tried to reach out to several women before his infamous movie theatre shooting.

Media outlet TMZ was able to speak with three women who were contacted by James Holmes since he opened his account in AdultFriendFinder.com on the 5th of July. Each of the women said that they turned down the theater massacre suspect’s request to meet up with them. One of the women said that Holmes wasn’t actually seeking out to have sex. In fact, the woman said that he was “just looking to maybe chat … nothing sexual.”

The woman said that she rejected James Holmes because she just wasn’t into him.

Despite his innocent approach, Holmes made it clear on his site profile that he was not just looking for a friend. He actually described himself as a man looking for a “casual sex girl” and possibly group sex.

The profile of the Colorado theatre shooter has since been removed from AdultFriendFinder.com

Inmates who have just been released recently at Arapahoe Detention Center in Colorado are saying that the only thing the inmates inside are talking about is killing James Holmes.

According to a new report of media outlet TMZ, Wayne Medley told the New York Daily News, “All the inmates were talking about killing him. Everyone was looking for an opportunity. It’s all they could talk about.”

The newspaper said that James Holmes is currently in solitary confinement and was also placed on suicide watch. Another inmate, Dima Damalov, told the New York Daily News that in case Holmes is released into the general population, he would not “live to see Monday’s court appearance.”

According to a prison employee, James Holmes “has not shown any remorse,” while an unidentified inmate told the paper, “He was spitting at the door and spitting at the guards. He’s spitting at everything. Dude was acting crazy.”

Holmes is due in court for the first time on Monday. If he is convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes has reportedly applied for a membership at a gun range last month, but did not become a member because the owner of the gun range got scared by a voicemail message he sent.

According to reports, James Holmes sent an email of application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers, Colorado on June 25 — the gun range owner, Glenn Rotkovich told Fox News. However, when Rotkovich called back Holmes, he said that the voicemail of Holmes was “incoherent, just bizarre, really bizarre — slurring words, but he didn’t sound drunk, just strange — I could not make out ‘James’ somewhere in it.”

Glenn Rotkovich then told his staff that in case James Holmes shows up at the gun range, the staff should immediately call Rotkovich. The gun range owner said that he always likes to meet the applicants before actually accepting them, and the application of Holmes’ was said to be particularly devoid of personal information.

On the application of James Holmes, he checked off boxes saying that he was not prohibited by law from possessing firearms or ammunition, had not been convicted of any domestic violence offense and was not facing pending felony criminal charges or domestic offenses.