J.R. Smith
21st Century Wire
From the word go, ‘The James Holmes Experience’ played out as a monumental media circus. It only really got serious in the last two months, as the jury had to consider whether or not to sentence a mentally deranged, manufactured media caricature – with the death penalty.
The jury, unable to reach a unanimous sentencing verdict, means that it’s life in prison for Aurora Movie Theater ‘Dark Knight’ shooter James Holmes – convicted last month of 24 counts of first-degree murder – two for each shooting victim.
Multiple Shooters
Early reports certainly suggested that Holmes, or whoever else participated in the active shooter event, was not acting alone. At the post-event July 20 press conference Aurora police Chief Dan Oates said he was ‘confident’ that Holmes acted alone and that police “are not looking for any other suspects.” But early reports from the scene point to multiple shooters, as well as Holmes being set up as a patsy who was actually found by police – locked inside his car outside the back exit of the theater.
Listen to the live police scanner reports here:
Regarding the multiple shooter suspects conformed by Aurora police, Business Insider adds these points:
“We’ve reported on the eye witness report from Corbin Dates, who said that it looked as if someone in the theater took a phone call by the emergency door and pried it open while “looking for somebody to come his way.”
“Another witness told a reporter: “From what we saw he wasn’t alone … because the second can of tear gas didn’t come from his side. Skeptics highlight that police radio transmissions seem to corroborate those accounts:
Three minutes after Holmes was detained in/by his car, an officer says (at 9:58): “One of the shooters might be wearing a white and blue plaid shirt” and the dispatcher responds “Copy, outstanding shooter possibly wearing a white and blue plaid shirt.”
An officer says (at 11:43): “The suspect is saying that he’s the only one but I’m getting conflicting suspect descriptions from the witnesses out here.”
“Then, the dispatcher receives several updates (at 24:42) and says: “Copy, all units … male with a red backpack and another one possibly in black clothing headed toward Alameda” Avenue. Subsequently an officer says (at 25:00): “Suspect is going to be male, unknown race, black camo-type outfit, believed to be wearing a vest, gas mask and multiple long guns.” That update is reiterated by another officer at 31:15.”
In addition to a plethora of eye witness testimonies of multiple perpetrators at the scene, it’s well-known that Aurora police were still seeking out other accomplices well after the main event, but it seems as though the trail suddenly went dead.
If that wasn’t enough, then there was the set of court documents which acknowledge the testimony of one individual who was alleged approached by Aurora Police to pose as a “victim” of the shooting. This was quickly thrown out by the Judge, and then buried – and naturally, blacked-out by the media.
The Arsenal
Aside from this, no one could rightly explain how this mentally-challenged, unemployed medical student could have managed to acquire $15K – $20K in weapons and other tactical gear, much of which is very difficult for civilians to get in the first place. On top of this, where did he receive the expert training which we’re told allowed him to accurately hit a total of 82 live targets, successfully killing 12 people and wounding 70. His weapons cache included, but was not limited to the following:
“An article posted on Sunday by the Daily Mail reveals Holmes had a “‘mind-boggling’ stash of ammunition” and “three types of explosives were found – jars filled with accelerates, chemicals that would explode when mixed together and more than 30 improvised grenades.” This further adds to the financial cost tally of what it took to put all this together. The Wall Street Journal is also now reporting: “the suspect bought four guns over the past 60 days, and over the Internet bought 3,000 rounds for an assault rifle, 3,000 rounds for Glock handguns and about 300 shotgun rounds. The suspect also had a 100-round drum-style magazine for the assault rifle that would have allowed him to fire 50 to 60 rounds a minute.”
Impressive… for a Navy SEAL perhaps.
‘The Joker’
Holmes who, for the most part, appeared drugged out of his mind during his various court appearances – along with the multi-colored hair – attributed by media to the “The Joker” character in the Batman films – became known in the media as a comical avatar, suggesting that he not be taken seriously at all. That was the public perception resulting from the careful construction of his persona. It was a good look for an insanity plea for sure.
FOX News ‘Media Controversy’
This side-show never quite added up, and turned out to be way too complex for media buffoons to figure out. Another circus act in the Holmes case, was the apparent media uproar over FOX News reporter Jana Winter (photo below), who was “leaked” (given) information by “Colorado Police” about a notebook supposedly mailed by James Holmes to his University of Colorado psychiatrist Lynn Fenton – before the shooting event.
Supposedly, the notebook in question contained drawings made by James Holmes (although it could not be completely proven that Holmes was the artist) which supposedly depicts ‘graphic violence’ and other strange exhibits. Holmes’s lawyers argued that Winter’s “sources” violated a gagging order,and lied under oath about telling Winter this information. After that, what appears like an elaborate legal charade takes place…
Holmes’ lawyers then appear to ‘go after’ reporter Jana Winter, who is working for Fox News in New York City. The whole affair was a brilliant distraction and certainly smacked of a synthetic government-media stunt, which could have fulfilled a number of objectives by stakeholders. One angle here is that this stunt would indirectly allow the state to demand more access to psychiatrist patient records. Another was to give the state more leverage against the press. It wouldn’t be the first time in recent years to find a Murdoch asset was at the center of an over-the-top “media crisis” appearing to be pitting the press (the Murdoch press) against the state. Murdoch’s farcical Phone Hacking Scandal in the UK led to a public celebrity circus, and ultimately right into the Leveson Inquiry which called for a new government arm to ‘regulate’ the UK press. Clever ruse.
Of course, just the media coverage of the alleged “crazed notebook” was enough to lend pre-trial media support for the Holmes plea of not guilty by reason of insanity – with the Holmes legal team seeking to avoid the death penalty. In the end, a New York superior court ruled that Winter did not have to testify in a Colorado court because she was protected by her home state’s shield law, which protects reporters from having to identify their confidential sources. It’s very possible that Winter was used as a type of pawn in this theatrical non-event. In what appears to be a manufactured controversy under the Murdoch umbrella, this supposed ‘controversy’ went on to make Jana Winter’s ‘maverick’ journalistic career, casting her into a convenient ‘anti-establishment’ figure, who then got scooped-up by Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept website. That’s assuming that anyone working for FOX News can actually be counted as a ‘journalist’.
‘The Impossible Jury’
Finally, after the exhausting pre-trial FOX media circus, a jury then had to be selected in the spring of 2015. The logistics were near impossible. Putting James Holmes on trial for the Aurora, Colorado event involved some potential 9,000 jurors who were to be summoned, and jurors had to somehow avoid read, watch or hear anything about the case – and put aside the fact of all the previous two years of mass media coverage.
For the character known as James Holmes, this looks like the end of the media circus – as he will be decommissioned, and likely retired from media service.
The end result of the Holmes case is that it has been entered into the American Lexicon as a paragon example for instituting “tougher” gun laws and gun control in the US. Public outrage leads to fear, leads to policy reform. A classic example of the Hegelian Dialectic of problem + reaction = solution.
Perhaps the chilling aspect of the entire Aurora-Holmes Affair, is the absolute dead silence about in the mainstream media regarding the laundry list of leads and anomalies left unattended throughout this case.
Like so many other mythological lone gunman tales before it, the unanswered questions will continue to sow seeds of doubt.
READ MORE DAILY SHOOTER NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Daily Shooter Files
