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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Judge in Colorado movie theater massacre case refuses to delay trial again

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James E. Holmes and attorney
A judge overseeing the Colorado movie theater massacre case said on Wednesday he will not delay the trial of gunman James Holmes again, rejecting a request by the defense for more time to study the results of a 2nd court-ordered sanity exam.

Jury selection in the trial of Holmes, 26, is due to start next month, and Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour has previously told lawyers for both sides to be ready to present their opening statements in late May or early June.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of 1st-degree murder and attempted murder for opening fire inside a Denver-area theater in July 2012 at a midnight screening of the Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 and wounding dozens.

His lawyers concede he was the sole gunman, but argue that the former neuroscience graduate student was suffering from a psychotic episode at the time. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Defense lawyers asked last week for the trial to be delayed to give them more time to study the results of Holmes' second sanity exam, which they said run to nearly 5,000 pages of documents and more than 20 hours of video.

On Monday, they told the judge their team had also been hit by 2 medical emergencies.

The prosecution had opposed any further delay to the trial.

In his ruling on Wednesday, Samour said the defense will have had ample time to study the results of the 2nd exam by the time trial begins, and he said they had failed to identify specific materials their experts were unable to view.

"If such vague allegations were sufficient, every criminal defendant could be entitled to a postponement of his trial," the judge wrote.

Holmes' trial has already been delayed several times, mostly because of the 2 mental examinations the California native was ordered to undergo after invoking the insanity defense.

While Samour said he sympathized with the defense and the "tragic events" of their medical emergencies, he said that likewise they were not grounds to delay a case that has been pending for 2 1/2 years.

The judge also said a majority of victims polled oppose any further holdups.

"Simply put, it is time for this case to proceed to trial," Samour wrote.

Source: Reuters, December 111, 2014
Location: Colorado, USA
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