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Colorado Theater Shooting Suspect Makes First Court Appearance

By NBC News

Aurora, Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes appears in court for the first time, Monday July 23, 2012.

July 23, 2012 Updated Jul 23, 2012 at 8:57 AM PDT

James Eagan Holmes appeared in court for the first time Monday after he was arrested last week in the deaths of 12 people in a mass shooting at a sold-out movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

The hearing was intended to advise Holmes, 24, of his rights. Official charges aren't filed at a so-called "advisement" hearing; under Colorado law, prosecutors will now have 72 hours to file charges, but in especially complicated cases, judges have the leeway to give them more time.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester told Holmes he was accused of having killed 12 people and wounded 58 others early Friday in a crowded theater was showing the premiere of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

Sylvester set a hearing on formal charges for next Monday at 9:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. ET). Holmes wearing a red prison jump suit, said nothing during the hearing, looking down at the table under a shock of dyed bright red hair.

Holmes has been held in solitary confinement at an Arapahoe County detention facility but will be moved Monday to a next-door courtroom for a 9:30 a.m. MDT hearing, where the charges against him of suspicion of first degree murder will be read.

Holmes was arrested Friday after authorities say he set off gas canisters and shot unsuspecting movie-goers in an attack that killed 12 people and injured dozens of others.

Holmes has been assigned a public defender and Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said that the 24-year-old former doctoral student has "lawyered up."

"He's not talking to us," the chief added.

When Holmes was arrested early Friday, he told police he was the Joker. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Sunday that investigators had found a Batman mask inside Holmes' apartment.

Investigators found the mask after they finished clearing the home of booby traps and ammunition, a law enforcement official close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the news media.

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