Colorado theater gunman loses latest round in court

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) – A Colorado judge overseeing the mass murder case against a gunman charged with killing 12 people in a suburban Denver movie theater has rejected several defense challenges to the state's death penalty laws and abruptly canceled hearings on the issue. The series of written opinions issued on Friday by Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour represented a setback and rebuke to efforts by the defense to shield James Holmes from the possibility of execution, if he is convicted. Denying several defense motions seeking to challenge Colorado's capital punishment and sentencing laws, Samour said most of the issues raised by Holmes' lawyer were "frivolous" and had already been litigated and resolved. "To the extent the defendant wishes to change the current state of the law in Colorado, his arguments should be directed to the legislature or the Colorado Supreme Court," Samour wrote.