May 13 Photo Brief: Honoring fallen journalists, Palestinians to mark Nakba Day, arm wrestling in Senegal
Newseum honors fallen journalists at memorial, Palestinians to mark Nakba Day, arm wrestling in Senegal and more in today’s daily brief.
- Rosemarie Colvin, mother of journalist Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria, holds a rose for placement at the Newseum’s Journalists Memorial during the reading names of fallen journalists on May 13, 2013 at the Newseum in Washington. Some 87 journalists from around the world, who died while covering the news in 2012 were honored and their names and photos added to the memorial. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pilgrims attend the El Rocio Romeria pilgrimage in the village of El Rocio near Huelva on May 12, 2013. Once every seven years the Virgen del Rocio travels from Almonte to El Rocio. (Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Amisom soldier, as part of the Burundian contingent to the mission, stands guard at an underground bunker in Daynille, Somalia, on May 13, 2013. Humanitarian civilan EOD teams, with the support of Amisom, are currently in the process of emptying twenty-three bunkers in Daynille of explosives. The bunkers, remnants of the Siad Barre regime, still contain weapons which, if not destroyed, could pose a risk to civilians and provide bomb-making material for al Shabaab militants. (Tobin Jones/AU-UN IST via AFP/Getty Images)
- A guide leading camels near the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake in Dunhuang, in China’s northwestern Gansu province on May 12, 2013. Formerly a silk route hub and center for trade between China and the West, Dunhuang relies heavily on tourism and features a number of historic sites dating back to the Han Dynasty. The city has an arid climate and is surrounded by sand dunes, a result of increasing desertification. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Congress Party supporter displays his hair style featuring the party’s symbol at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief, Siddaramaiah as Karnataka chief minister in Bangalore on May 13, 2013. Congress leader Siddaramaiah takes over as 22nd Karnataka chief minister after leading his party to a huge win in last week’s assembly elections, winning 121 seats in the 224-seat assembly. (Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Bulgarian family works in an agricultural field on the outskirts of Sofia on May 13, 2013. Bulgaria faced fresh political uncertainty Monday after tough guy ex-premier Boyko Borisov fell way short of a majority in elections held three months after mass demonstrations forced his government’s resignation. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
- U.S. Navy ships line the pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia, May 8, 2013, during the Department of Defense’s tour deemed Navy 101. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
- Four Pakistani brothers and a friend (L) crowd a motorcycle as they make their way home from school at a madrasa in Lahore on May 13, 2013. The boys were carrying a food container with a meal they were given to take to a worker at the mosque’s local office nearby. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pilgrims attend a mass ceremony at the Fatima catholic shrine in Fatima, central Portugal, on May 13, 2013. Thousands converged on Fatima Santuary to celebrate the anniversary of the Fatima miracle when three shepherd children claimed to having seen the Virgin Mary in May 1917. (Pedro Nunes/AFP/Getty Images)
- A man selling used vehicle spare parts is reflected in a mirror as he sits inside his shop in the old quarters of Delhi May 13, 2013. (Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters)
- A Palestinian boy holds up a symbolic key during a march to mark the 65th anniversary of Nakba near the United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in the town of Naqoura May 13, 2013. Palestinians will mark “Nakba” (Catastrophe) on May 15 to commemorate the expulsion or fleeing of hundreds of thousands of their brethren from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948. (Ali Hashisho/Reuters)
- Arm wrestlers Mamadou Ba (L) and Cheikh Faye battle each other during a competition in the crowded Medina district of Dakar, Senegal, May 13, 2013. The “Jaay Doole,” which translated from Wolof means “Show Your Strength”, is a competition that aims to find the best arm wrestler in Senegal by holding tournaments throughout the country. (Joe Penney/Reuters)
- A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with Syrian Army in the Salaheddine neighbourhood of central Aleppo August 7, 2012. (Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)
- Greek teachers dressed as soldiers demonstrate in central Athens on May 13, 2013. Greek government on Monday took emergency action — the third this year — to ward off a strike by secondary school teachers timed to coincide with university entry exams. The emergency order to work follows similar steps taken against metro workers in January and seamen in February as the conservative-led coalition government fights to minimize labor unrest. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)
- A displaced Somali woman gestures in front her makeshift shelter after heavy rains flooded the region in central Shabelle May 13, 2013. (Feisal Omar/Reuters)
- Palestinian youths practice their parkour skills in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip September 12, 2012. Training is held in cemeteries, and in former Israeli settlements. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
- Muslim women show their ink-covered fingers after casting their votes in mid-term elections in Manila on May 13, 2013. The Philippines went to the polls on May 13 to choose thousands of local leaders plus national legislators in what is seen as a referendum on the presidency of reformist Benigno Aquino. (Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)
- Accused movie theater gunman, James Holmes (2nd from R) is shown in this courtroom artist sketch listening to his legal team during hearing in Centennial, Colorado May 13, 2013. A Colorado judge found “good cause” to allow Holmes, who could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering 12 moviegoers last year, to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. (Bill Robles/Reuters)
- Workers set up a the giant official poster of the 66th Cannes Film Festival, featuring a 50-year-old photo of Hollywood love match Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward locked in a tender embrace, on May 13, 2013 on the facade of the palais des festivals in Cannes, southeastern France. Cannes, one of the world’s top film festivals, opens on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)
Judge finds “good cause” to allow insanity plea for accused Colorado gunman
Keith Coffman Reuters
2:31 p.m. EDT, May 13, 2013
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) – A Colorado judge found “good cause” on Monday to allow accused movie theater gunman James Holmes, who could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering 12 moviegoers last year, to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
But Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. stopped short of permitting Holmes’ lawyers to enter a new plea, saying he would render a final decision by the end of the month after prosecutors have a chance to respond and he rules on the legal consequences of an insanity plea.
Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with the July 2012 shooting spree in a suburban Denver multiplex during a midnight screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
The attack, which along with December’s Connecticut school rampage helped reignite a national debate on gun control, ranks as one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings.
In addition to the 12 members of the film audience slain in the theater shooting, 58 others were wounded by gunfire and another 12 suffered various other injuries in the ensuing pandemonium.
Defense lawyers had said they were not ready to formally pursue an insanity defense at the arraignment back in March, when the judge entered a standard not-guilty plea on Holmes’ behalf.
“We now have a diagnosis that’s complete,” public defender Daniel King told the judge on Monday.
Samour said he took the defense arguments at face value and did not believe Holmes’ lawyers were engaging in “dilatory tactics.”
“Good cause has been established” by the defense for a change in plea to not guilty plea by reason of insanity, he said.
The judge gave prosecutors until the end of this week to file in writing any objections they might have to an insanity plea, and the defense would then have a few more days after that to respond. The judge said he would then rule by May 28 on the legal ramifications of an insanity plea, and he set a hearing for May 31, in which Holmes will be advised of the consequences and could go through with a plea change that time.
Holmes was present for the hour-long proceedings on Monday. Still sporting a shagging beard and dressed in maroon prison garb, he sat impassively as usual at the defense table without saying a word.
Prosecutors announced last month that they would seek to put the California native to death if he is convicted of the massacre, citing the “especially heinous, cruel or depraved” nature of the crime.
Since it is a capital case, it has been widely expected that Samour will grant the change-of-plea request.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Bernard Orr)