Jurors deciding the fate of the Aurora movie theater gunman will not take a trip to Colorado’s death row, hear about prison conditions or examine punishments meted out in other murder cases, according to a string of orders released late Monday.

Arapahoe County Judge Carlos Samour also allowed jurors to hear expert testimony about bombs and DNA analysis, but he blocked defense attorneys from presenting arguments during a possible death-penalty sentencing hearing about how jurors should handle “residual doubt” over James Holmes’ guilt.

The orders are the latest to tie up loose arguments in advance of the case’s long-awaited trial, which is now scheduled for October. Holmes, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, is charged with dozens of counts of murder and attempted murder for the July 2012 attack on the Century Aurora 16 theater. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Defense attorneys have asked Samour to be able to take jurors to visit the state’s death row in Sterling, as well as the state’s execution chamber in Cañon City. Prosecutors simultaneously asked Samour to block the defense from presenting evidence about prison conditions and from arguing about punishments in other murder cases in an attempt to show that a death sentence in the theater shooting case would be “disproportionate.”

Samour’s denial of the defense motion and approval of the prosecutions’ is in keeping with previous rulings where he has limited the evidence jurors can hear during a death penalty hearing to the facts of the case and statements about Holmes’ character.

Meanwhile, officials from the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo informed Samour on Tuesday that they have appointed a new doctor to perform a second psychiatric exam on Holmes. Samour earlier found deficiencies in the original evaluation and agreed with prosecutors that a second should be ordered. But while the doctor who will perform that evaluation — whose name was redacted in court papers — has now been appointed, the evaluation itself is on hold while Samour considers defense objections to his order about the new evaluation.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold