Bill Robles
A courtroom sketch of Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes at his preliminary hearing in Colorado this week.
By Tracy Connor, NBC News
Hours before the Aurora multiplex massacre, suspect James Holmes took creepy cellphone pictures of himself, smiling as he posed next to the muzzle of a Glock handgun, prosecutors said Wednesday.
In another iPhone picture, the graduate-school dropout ? his dyed red hair hidden under a black cap, with black contact lenses in his eyes ? stuck out his tongue.
The photos were introduced as evidence on the third day of a preliminary hearing to determine if there?s enough evidence to try Holmes for murdering 12 people and wounding 58 others during a July 20 screening of ?The Dark Knight Rises.? The judge is expected to announce his ruling Friday morning.
There were also pictures on Holmes? phone of the inside and outside of the theater taken as early as June 29, and a photo of the gear he wore that night: body armor, a helmet and a gas mask.
Prosecutors said the unsettling images were proof of Holmes? ?deliberation and extreme indifference.?
The defense announced it would not call any witnesses. Holmes? lawyers are expected to mount an insanity defense if there?s a trial and have already made reference to his state of mind while cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses.
On Tuesday, they questioned Aurora Police Department Detective Craig Appel about why Holmes wasn?t tested for drugs or alcohol after his arrest even though his pupils were hugely dilated and his behavior bizarre.
Appel told the court that police had placed paper bags over Holmes? hands to preserve gunpowder residue, and he pretended they were puppets. The former neuroscience grad student also ripped a staple out of a table and tried to stick it in an electrical socket.
The defense also asked an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms whether there is any legal process in Colorado to stop a ?severely mentally ill? person from buying guns or ammunition.
The agent had just ticked off the items Holmes legally purchased in the two months before the rampage, including two handguns, a shotgun, a rifle, more than 6,200 rounds of ammunition, body armor, chemicals, fireworks and practice targets.
As they laid out some of their evidence this week, prosecutors brought a parade of law-enforcement officials to the stand to deliver gripping, sometimes heartbreaking testimony about the carnage at the Century 16 theater.
They have not shed light on a motive for the slaughter, but drew a portrait of a methodical killer who made painstaking preparations and foreshadowed his own fate in a question posted to two online dating-service profiles: ?Will you visit me in prison??
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Among the more vivid accounts was the description of how Holmes booby-trapped his home, hoping to distract officers from the theater shooting.?
Holmes used a thermos, frying pan, remote-control car and volatile chemicals to rig his apartment to blow up during the Aurora theater massacre, FBI agent?Garret Gumbinner said.
The diabolical contraptions included a trip-wire leading from the door to a thermos filled with glycerine that was perched over a frying pan filled with potassium permanganate, Gumbinner said.
If they combined, they'd create a spark that would set off a chain-reaction: fast-moving flames and a series of explosions as homemade devices scattered around the apartment ignited.
On top of the fridge was a remote-controlled ?pyrotechnic? box filled with 6-inch fireworks shells. Holmes left the remote for it outside, in a trash bag with a toy car and a boom box on a timer, the agent said.
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His fantasy was that someone on the street would hear the music, open the bag, decide to play with the car, fiddle with the remote and detonate the explosives, Gumbinner said.
In all, there were more than a dozen explosive devices in his apartment loaded with napalm, smokeless powder and live ammunition. Carpets were soaked with oil and gasoline to fuel any blast.
His computer was set to play loud music at a designated time. He was hoping ?someone would call the police and that the police would respond to his apartment,? Gumbinner said.
"He said he rigged his apartment to explode or catch fire in order to divert police resources to his apartment,? Gumbinner said, recounting an interview with Holmes.
'Help me!': Teen's 911 call played at Holmes hearing
No one played with the toy car or banged on the door, though. And when Holmes was arrested, he quickly told police about his traps.
There was more gruesome testimony as the pretrial hearing continued for James Holmes the lone gunman in the Aurora theater shooting that killed 12 and injured 58 others. And for the first time, in words attributed to Holmes, a detailed description of what he expected would happen when he left for the theater complex with four guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
The suspect ? wearing a beard and jail jumpsuit and looking disheveled ? has shown little reaction to any of the testimony, which left spectators and even some witnesses in tears.
On Tuesday, he?simply stared straight ahead when prosecutors played a 911 tape of a 13-year-old girl pleading for help for her mortally wounded 6-year-old cousin, Veronica Moser-Sullivan.
Veronica?s father, Ian Sullivan, wept with his eyes closed as he listened for four long minutes to the chaos that marked his daughter?s final moments.
The day?s proceedings ended with Sgt. Matthew Fyles reading a grim catalog: the name of every person wounded and the nature of their injury. When he got to Ashley Moser ? who suffered a miscarriage, was paralyzed and lost her daughter, Veronica ? he choked up.
NBC News? Mike Taibbi and KUSA contributed to this report.
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