Background check was performed on Aurora shooter

last week. University of Colorado Denver spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery later disputed that James Holmes was banned from campus but confirmed that a criminal background check was done on him before the July 20 attack. She said a court gag order prevented her from discussing who requested the check, who performed it, and who saw the results. Did tutor concerns lead to a background check? It’s the first explicit confirmation from the university that concerns had been raised about Holmes at the school before the shooting. University officials did not elaborate about why they conducted the background check. Montgomery did say that campus Police Chief Doug Abraham was referring to that background check when he said at a July 23 news conference that Holmes had only a minor infraction on his record. She said Holmes’ access to restricted areas on campus was canceled because he left his program in June, not because of threats. Prosecutors made their new claims last week against Holmes in their effort to persuade a judge to allow them access to 100 pages of education records subpoenaed from the university, where Holmes had been a neuroscience doctoral candidate. The university turned over the documents last week, but Holmes’ lawyers moved to keep them sealed.  Insanity Plea Former Denver Deputy District Attorney Karen Steinhauser said arguments over the records show both sides are gearing up for a trial over Holmes’ sanity. “They know it’s not a question of who did this,” Steinhauser said. “They know that the only possible defense is that he was not sane at the time.”]]>