James Holmes' defense has changed course.
Attorneys for the sole suspect in last July's theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises filed a notice with the court today that they'll be changing their client's plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
A judge entered a plea of not guilty on the 25-year-old's behalf in March after prosecutors successfully argued that Holmes' camp was taking too long to show cause for an insanity defense.
Prosecutors had said that they would be seeking the death penalty against Holmes, who is charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder (double the number of deaths due to special circumstances), 116 counts of attempted murder, possession of explosive devices and inciting violence.
A mental-health evaluation to determine whether he's legally insane, should the judge sign off on the plea change, could take months.
The next hearing in Holmes' case is scheduled for Monday.
"The reason the defense is considering entering an [insanity] plea is because Mr. Holmes suffers from a serious mental illness," his attorneys wrote in court documents filed last month.
