Suspect in Boulder, Colorado mass shooting makes first court appearance
The suspect has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and will be held without bail. Jeff Paul reports.
One of the lawyers for accused Colorado gunman Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa also represented the convicted killer in the 2012 Aurora slaughter.
Alissa is being represented by a team of public defenders, including Daniel King, who defended James Holmes, the madman who shot up a packed movie theater nearly a decade ago during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
Holmes is currently serving a dozen consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole — one for each of his victims — plus 3,318 years.
In 2014, King, the chief trial deputy at the Colorado State Public Defenders office, admitted to making mistakes in an unrelated murder case, the Denver Post reported at the time.
Aug. 26, 2015: Colorado theater shooter James Holmes appears in court, with his attorney Daniel King, to be formally sentenced in Centennial, Colo. (RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via AP, Pool)
King said he was "negligent" in defending the man, Sir Mario Owens, including by not cross-examining a witness and not calling other witnesses to testify, the report said.
Asked whether he was qualified to be the lead attorney in Owens’ case, King testified, "No, not really. But I guess my ego …"
Owens was on death row at the time.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, appears before Boulder District Court Judge Thomas Mulvahill on March 25, 2021. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via AP, Pool)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Alissa made his first court appearance on Thursday, with his other lawyer Kathryn Herold indicating that they needed time to assess his undisclosed mental illness.
Alissa is charged with murdering 10 people at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder on Monday. He is also charged with shooting at a police officer, who survived.
