First trial of movie theater owner over mass shooting at Batman premiere begins in Colorado
Two months before James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded dozens more in a shooting massacre at a premiere of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in suburban Denver, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning about the potential for such attacks.
But the jury selected this week to hear the first civil case to go to trial against the owner of the Aurora movie theater over the 2012 shooting won’t be told about the DHS memo.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Phillip Douglass said the document didn’t pass a relevance threshold because it offered no specific advice about security measures, and there is no evidence that any movie theater owner took action as a result of it, the Denver Post reports.
Lawyers for the defendant movie theater owner also argued that the memo was inapposite because it dealt with terrorism threats. Holmes has “never been considered a terrorist,” said attorney Kevin Taylor, who represents Cinemark USA Inc. “He was a madman.”
However, there is other evidence that lawyers for the 28 plaintiffs in the wrongful death case will rely on when arguing that Cinemark was negligent, according to the Post, Courthouse News, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.).
With some 1,000 customers expected for the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, the Century Aurora 16 should have hired more security, the plaintiffs contend. If so, they argue, Holmes might have been spotted carrying multiple weapons in the parking lot, before he entered the theater complex through a back door. The plaintiffs also point to the lack of an alarm on the door.
Jurors at this stage of the case will decide only whether Cinemark is liable, the Post notes. If so, another jury will decide on damages.
A separate federal case against the movie theater brought by other plaintiffs is scheduled to go to trial in July.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “First Suits Filed re Shooting Spree During Batman Movie Blame Colo. Theater for Lax Security”
See also:
ABAJourrnal.com: “Shooter James Holmes gets 12 life terms plus 3,318 years in Batman movie massacre”
