CENTENNIAL — Arapahoe County prosecutors are seeking to charge James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora theater massacre, with 10 more counts, according to a motion filed this week.

The new charges, if approved by the judge, would bring the total number of counts Holmes faces to 152. In a separate motion filed this week, prosecutors are also seeking to amend 17 counts against Holmes — including 16 counts of attempted murder and one sentence-enhancement count for committing a crime of violence.

Casimir Spencer, a spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s office, said a gag order in the case prevented her from commenting on the filings. The proposed changes could be as small as fixing the spelling of victims’ names. The original complaint spelled some victims’ names inaccurately and appeared to list one wounded victim twice.

The motions, filed Tuesday, were disclosed in the case’s register of actions — which provides a shorthand summary of case activity. The register does not provide details on what the additional charges would be or how the existing charges would be amended.

Details about the new charges are expected to be discussed Thursday at a hearing in Holmes’ case.

That hearing — the continuation of a hearing that began last month — will again focus on the debate over whether a notebook Holmes mailed to his psychiatrist is protected by doctor-patient privilege. Holmes’ attorneys say it is. Prosecutors say they should be able to look at it for potential evidence in the case.

Though the courtroom debate is likely to finish up Thursday, the issue will be far from settled. At last month’s hearing, 18th Judicial District Chief Judge William Sylvester said he would probably take a few days after the hearing to compose his thoughts and issue a detailed, written ruling. Arapahoe County Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman said during the hearing that the loser on the issue will probably seek to pause the case and file an immediate appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Such a filing, known as an “interlocutory appeal,” is “a very, very strange creature,” said Christina Habas, a former judge who now works for the law firm Keating Wagner and represents some of the victims in the theater shootings.

Most issues in a case must wait until the conclusion of the case to be appealed. Interlocutory appeals, however, can be filed in the middle of the case for a narrow range of issues that affect the integrity of the case going forward. It is up to the state Supreme Court to determine whether to even hold a hearing on the appeal.

“It is rarely granted,” said Denver lawyer Daniel Recht, who has been following the Holmes case. “The Supreme Court rarely even grants the request to have a hearing.”

Habas said the state Supreme Court might order a full stop to other proceedings if it agrees to hear an interlocutory appeal. And that could mean months of delay to Holmes’ case.

“It is not unusual for them to take a number of months to issue a decision,” Habas said. “But, if they are going to deny the appeal, it could happen very quickly.”

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