Prosecutors: Colorado suspect made threats

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- The former graduate student accused in a deadly mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater had been banned from his college after making threats and failing a key exam six weeks before the rampage, prosecutors said yesterday.

The new claims against James Holmes emerged as part of efforts to persuade a judge to allow the prosecution access to 100 pages of education records subpoenaed from the University of Colorado, Denver, where he was a neuroscience doctoral candidate.

The prosecutors' account presents a sharply different picture of Holmes' exit from the one provided by university officials in the days after the shooting. And a school spokeswoman said after the hearing that Holmes had not been banned.

Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others in the July 20 shooting during a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie. He has not issued a plea and remains held without bail.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson did not elaborate on the nature of the threats during the hearing, nor did she disclose where the information came from.

The university turned over the documents last week, but Holmes' lawyers moved to keep them sealed.

Prosecutors are seeking Holmes' university application, his grades, course schedules, emails concerning Holmes, and anything concerning his termination or withdrawal from the school.

Holmes appeared more engaged in the hearing than previous court appearances. His walk was more deliberate when he came in courtroom. Rather than staring blankly ahead, he looked at the judge for most of the hearing. -- AP