Notes from today's hearing

Here is the summary of the hearing from today - Holmie version :)

I arrived at approximately 7:30. There was nobody in line. In fact, there was only one other person in line behind me for the general public when they started letting people in. It was a ghost town. There were more victims/families there than I’ve seen in the past few hearings. I counted around 9. Brauchler was there, along with Zook and the usual cast of characters.

Rich Orman was having a conversation with Dan Zook and Karen Pearson in front of the microphone at their table. He was pretty damned loud about it, because Jon Blunk’s cousin actually told Lisa Teesch-McGuire to tell him that they could hear him. So she went over and had to tell him to keep his voice down LOL. That man sure is a big mouth.

James was brought in, and like I said in my earlier post, his beard is gone for the most part and his hair is cut short. Not shaved, but just a short haircut. He has about as much beard as his second mugshot picture. Tamara sat next to him this time. Kristen Nelson was in the middle and Dan King was at the other end.

They didn’t cover much today. The Judge asked if the defense or prosecution had any objection to Pueblo’s request for more time, which they didn’t. So the Judge granted it, saying he basically didn’t have a choice. If that’s how long it’s going to take, that’s how long it’s going to take. So they have until September 16th to examine James. So the new date is now September 30, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

They mostly dealt with Jana Winter and her attorney’s request to see the notebook. One of her attorneys was in the courtroom. Someone brought that to the Judge’s attention, so he called the attorney out to speak regarding Jana Winter coming in for the August 19th date that was originally set and what their position was regarding having access to the notebook. The attorney said that he was only there as an observer and couldn’t answer the Judge’s question. The Judge said that he could issue an Order requiring Winter to come back for the hearing on September 30th and vacate the one originally scheduled for August 19th, which would save Winter a trip, and save the defense team from having to appear in court without James because he will be in Pueblo at that time. So I’m pretty sure that’s the route they’re going to take.

Then Rich Orman of course had to get up and address the court at the podium. He said that it wouldn’t be Jana Winter getting a copy of the notebook, it would be Fox News, which they objected to. He said it would be the same as him going down to the 16th Street Mall here in Denver and passing out the notebook. Dan King agreed and said that they didn’t want her or Fox News having a copy of the notebook either. So I seriously doubt that Winter’s motion to see the notebook is going to be granted.

The judge is actually a really funny, likeable guy. He called out Winter’s attorney again for something, and then he said to him, “Are you regretting showing up here today?”. Everybody in the courtroom cracked up.

The Judge said that he was approached by the Judicial Branch, asking him if he would be interested in having prospective jurors fill out a questionnaire electronically. He told the parties that he declined the offer, because then he wouldn’t be able to administer an oath to any prospective jurors, and there would be other issues with it. The prosecution objected to an electronic questionnaire, as did the defense for the most part, but they want time to think about it. I think Samour gave them a week to address that. The Judge said that he would have a huge group of prospective jurors come in on Thursdays and Fridays for about two weeks, so that he could administer the oath in person. So if you get called for jury duty on a Thursday or Friday, it’s for James’ case. The Judge said that those are the two days of the week that they usually don’t have prospective jurors come in, so like I said, if you are summoned to appear on a Thursday or Friday for jury duty, it’s about James’ case. I’m so jelly! I don’t live in Arapahoe County, so I won’t be called for jury duty there.

Then the Judge asked the parties if they had anything else to address the court. Now this is the interesting part. The prosecution didn’t, but then Tamara got up and told the Judge that they had met with the doctor from Pueblo that is going to be examining James. This doctor wants to be able to discuss James with his prior doctor(s) that have treated James in the past. Note the plural – doctorS. So that is proof that James saw more than just Fenton regarding his mental health. It was suspected before, but it’s on the record now. James saw more than one psychiatrist or psychologist in the past. The Judge said that he is going to issue an order later today that would allow any treating provider that James saw in the past to talk to the doctor in Pueblo. Tamara said that because of confidentiality issues, the doctors would be reluctant to discuss James with anyone unless they had an order from the court. The judge is going to issue the Order, but it is going to be suppressed from the public because of the names of the doctors that James saw previously. Orman was the one that actually requested that it be suppressed, so that these doctors don’t have to worry about the media “camping on their doorsteps” once they found out that James was treating with them. The court agreed. So if anyone looks at the Register of Actions and there is an Order issued by the Judge but it’s suppressed, that’s what it is.

As far as James, other than the way he looked, he rocked in his chair again and made the mouth movements. I had a direct line of sight to him today since there was hardly anyone there. He did look at me a few times. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet…LOL. It’s just so strange having those “soul penetrating” eyes on me. The judge left the courtroom to give the parties a chance to discuss the new schedule. When that happened, the prosecution was all standing up in a huddle, and I noticed James looking over at them HARD. He stared at them for a good three minutes. LOL. Good for him – staring down the people who are trying to kill him!

Other than that, he looked around at the lights, and he did the eyebrow arching thing a few times. That is just cute as hell…LOL. He yawned a lot, as if he had been woken up to get dragged into court, or he could have just been bored as hell. He did watch the judge a lot too.

That was basically it. A pretty short hearing today, and not many people there. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask me!