Colorado theater shooting suspect makes first court appearance

 AURORA¹, Colorado, July 23 (Xinhua) -- James Holmes, the 24-year- old suspect that killed 12 people and injured 58 others in a movie theater shooting spree in Aurora, the U.S. state of Colorado, made his first court appearance Monday.

Holmes showed his face to the public for the first time since he was incarcerated² in connection to the worst mass shooting in U. S. history, which left 12 dead and 58 wounded at the premiere of a Batman movie, the Dark Knight³ Rises, early Friday morning.

Five victims' family members were present in the packed courtroom at Colorado's Arapahoe County District Court as Holmes, tied with leather anklet, entered the court at 9:30 a.m. local time (1630 GMT) for his initial advisement hearing, appearing calm and subdued⁴ with no facial expression.

Holmes was wearing a maroon⁵ jail jumpsuit, his mop of orange- dyed hair sitting atop an unshaven face, and with thick, brown sideburns. The defendant⁶ opened and closed his eyes several times during the ten-minute "Initial Advisement" hearing, as if tired or dazed. One time he even closed his eyes. He never looked at people in the packed courtroom.

"We were looking to see a monster, but we didn't see that," said 52-year-old local resident John Vogt, one of 40 citizens who joined 40 members of the media and 20 officials at the hearing.

Holmes will be back in court again on July 30 when formal charges are expected to be filed against him. While declaring Holmes' offence as First-grade murder, Chief Judge William B. Sylvester granted a gag order to prosecutors⁷ out of caution to not compromise jurors in a case that is already highly publicized.

A four-prosecutor team, including veteran Chief Deputy Karen Pearson as the lead, and Rich Orman, Jocob Edsonwill, have been working on the case. While Daniel King from the Arapahoe County Public Defender's office entered his appearance as Holmes' attorney. King refused to speak anything on Holmes after the around-10-minute hearing.

Prosecutors were granted an unusual extension until next Monday on the 72-hour mandated⁸ time for "Filing of Charges" by Sylvester, who told Holmes, "ordinarily individuals are entitled to bail⁹, but given the nature of the charges, you are being held without bond."

Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers¹⁰ told Xinhua she doesn't expect to extend next week's deadline for formal charges. According to Chambers, at least 24 first-degree murder charges are expected to be filed against Holmes, due to Arapahoe County's double-list murder laws, and experts say more than 100 total charges are likely to be filed.

"The death penalty won't be sought until 60 days after the arraignment," Chambers told reporters at a press conference following Holmes' hearing. "Deciding whether to pursue the death penalty is a long process that involves input¹¹ from victims and their relatives," she said.

Chambers added that next Monday's hearing may be postponed¹² if there are any special circumstances.

1 aurora   

n.极光

参考例句：

• The aurora is one of nature's most awesome spectacles.极光是自然界最可畏的奇观之一。
• Over the polar regions we should see aurora.在极地高空,我们会看到极光。

2 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

3 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

4 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

5 maroon   

v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的

参考例句：

• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks.埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。
• Robinson Crusoe has been marooned on a desert island for 26 years.鲁滨逊在荒岛上被困了26年。

6 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

7 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

8 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

9 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

10 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

11 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

12 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。