Aurora theater shooting hearing, day 3: James Holmes took photos of himself dressed to kill

Corbin Dates.

Fyles also mentioned the experiences of Corbin Dates, who was at the theater during the July 20 attack. Dates recalled seeing a male sitting in a front-row seat; he wore what Dates thought was a bandana or cap from which reddish hair could be seen sticking out. He watched as the man walked toward the emergency door while apparently talking on the phone -- and at the door, he opened it and stuck his foot out to keep it open.

At that point, Dates left the theater to meet his girlfriend, and when they returned, the man was gone.

After Fyles left the witness stand, Daniel King, Holmes's attorney, stood up and said the defense would not be calling any witnesses at the preliminary hearing. The only reason to have done so, he said, was to feature witnesses who could talk about what he called Holmes's mental illness or mental state. However, he believed the hearing wasn't "the proper venue to put on a show or present some kind of truncated defense."

A break followed, after which Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson made a statement on behalf of the prosecution. She said the evidence presented at the three-day hearing showed Holmes's "planning, his preparation, his surveillance of the theater, his purchases," as well as his presence at the theater before the evening's movie, The Dark Knight Rises, began to screen, and his use of door stops.

Judge William Sylvester.

Pearson said Holmes chose as the site for his attack a location where there would be "a number of people in one place who would have great difficulty escaping...a perfect venue for this crime." Had his rifle not jammed, she said, he would have shot many more people, since "he certainly had the ammo." She also argued that his actions showed "a willingness to take life indiscriminately.... He didn't care who he killed or how many he killed, because he wanted to kill them all." As a result, Pearson said, charges of both first-degree murder after deliberation and first-degree murder, extreme indifference, were fully justified.

Holmes faces a total of 166 charges, including two for each person killed or wounded -- one pertaining to either murder or attempted murder with deliberation, and another labeled "extreme indifference."

The defense did not make a statement.

The hearing concluded with Judge William Sylvester setting a new hearing for 9 a.m. on Friday. It will be considered a status hearing and/or an arraignment at which Holmes could enter a plea -- if, as expected, Sylvester determines that there is enough evidence to go to trial.

Throughout the proceedings, Holmes, clad in a red jumpsuit and sporting brown hair and a brown beard, acted as he has throughout the week. Rather than displaying activity or participating in conversations with his attorneys, he mainly sat still, staring straight ahead.

Update: If Holmes enters a plea on Friday, the judge has decided to allow one still camera and one video camera inside the courtroom to capture it. No audio recording will be allowed, however. There haven't been cameras allowed since Holmes's first appearance in court on July 23.

More from our Aurora Theater Shooting archive: "Aurora theater shooting hearing, day two: Youngest victim's story, death of a military man."