Lawyers for the Aurora theater shooting gunman want to exclude the public from upcoming court hearings concerning his psychiatric evaluation.

Arguing that the hearings are about “the very core of the evidence of this case,” James Holmes’ attorneys say that allowing the public — including the news media — to hear that evidence now would hurt Holmes’ rights.

“(I)t is highly likely that broad public exposure to the details of this evidence would have a seriously prejudicial impact on Mr. Holmes’ constitutional rights to a fair trial by an impartial jury,” defense attorneys wrote in their motion, filed Friday.

Two days of hearings are scheduled for later this month to debate a prosecution request that Holmes undergo another psychiatric evaluation, this time by prosecution experts.

Defense attorneys say testimony at the hearings will reveal whether an independent psychiatrist concluded Holmes was sane or insane at the time he shot 70 people inside the Century Aurora 16 movie theater, killing 12. The evaluation was ordered after Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The results of the evaluation have not been disclosed publicly, and attorneys have spoken in court only cryptically about the report.

Defense attorneys say in their motion they will argue that some statements and conclusions in the report should be excluded from trial.

“[T]he only role the public or the media is likely to play if allowed access to this hearing is to seek out attention-grabbing headlines based on evidence that may ultimately not be admissible or admitted at trial,” the motion states.