Pleas

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A visibly annoyed judge ordered a not guilty plea for James E. Holmes, who is charged with the deadly Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting, after his defense said they were not ready to enter a plea. Wearing shackles and prison togs, Holmes was impassive in the Arapahoe County Court as he was arraigned on 166 criminal counts in connection with the shooting on July 20. The former neuroscience doctoral student at the University of Colorado-Denver is accused of opening fire in a packed movie theater during a midnight showing of  “The Dark Knight Rises,”  killing 12 and wounding about 70. Prosecutors said they will announce on April 1 whether they will seek the death penalty.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - The judge in the Aurora movie theater massacre case has rejected a defense argument that Colorado laws on insanity pleas are unconstitutional, paving the way for a long-awaited arraignment next week. James E. Holmes, 25, was arrested without resistance minutes after a gunman opened fire July 20 in a packed theater during the showing of "The Dark Knight Rises. " Twelve people were killed and about 70 others were wounded in a crime that horrified the nation and has now become fodder in the debate over gun control.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- The judge in the Aurora movie massacre case has rejected a defense argument that Colorado laws on insanity pleas are unconstitutional, clearing the way for the long-awaited arraignment of James E. Holmes next week. Holmes, 25, was arrested without resistance minutes after he allegedly opened fire July 20 inside a packed theater during the showing of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Twelve people were killed and 70 were wounded in a crime that horrified the nation and is now invoked by both sides in the ongoing gun control debate.  Holmes has been held in isolation without bond and has not yet entered a plea.

Over the last year or so since I became a mother, what was my iPad has morphed into the family iPad, has been renamed Elmo by our nearly 2-year-old son, Christopher, and seems to be a bit of a mystery grab bag when I finally get it back in my hands. From his many early FaceTime and Skype chats with "Nana," my mother, he's gotten quite proficient at using it. He now slides the virtual arrow to open it, selects the on-screen folder that reads "Chris' books" and deftly taps through a series of book apps that entertain and engage him. And he knows the ones he wants.

Bakersfield fire dispatcher Tracey Halvorson pleaded with the woman on the other end of the line to start CPR on an elderly woman who was barely breathing. "It's a human being," Halvorson said, speaking quickly. "Is there anybody that's willing to help this lady and not let her die?" The woman paused. "Um, not at this time. " According to a 911 tape released by the Bakersfield Fire Department, the woman told Halvorson that she was a nurse at Glenwood Gardens, a senior living facility in Bakersfield.

The suspect in the Colorado theater shooting may plead not guilty by reason of insanity, according to court documents filed by his attorneys. The motions filed this week on behalf of James E. Holmes call into question the constitutionality of several aspects of the state's insanity defense laws for defendants, such as Holmes, who could face the death penalty. The 25-year-old former neuroscience student is accused of storming an Aurora theater on July 20 and opening fire on the crowd which had gathered to watch the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Twelve people were killed and dozens of others were injured.

SAN DIEGO - She married a fabulously wealthy man decades her elder, and became the first female mayor of San Diego. But when Maureen O'Connor left public life, she spent countless hours seated in front of video-poker machines. Over a nine-year period, she wagered an estimated $1 billion, including millions from a charity set up by her late husband, who founded Jack in the Box. That was the portrait that emerged in court Thursday as the frail former mayor tearfully acknowledged she skimmed more than $2 million from a charity founded by her late husband, Robert O. Peterson.

Transocean Deepwater Inc., an oil drilling company, formally pleaded guilty on Thursday to a misdemeanor charge and will pay $400 million in criminal penalties, the latest action in the 2010 Gulf oil spill. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo in New Orleans accepted the guilty plea to violating the Clean Water Act plea and imposed sentence, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Transocean agreed last month to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charge and to pay $1 billion in civil penalties along with the criminal penalty.

PORTSMOUTH, Va.--The captain of the doomed replica sailing ship HMS Bounty twice rebuffed his chief mate's desperate pleas to abandon ship as the vessel rolled and pitched in Hurricane Sandy's fierce winds and 25-foot seas, the mate testified Tuesday. When Capt. Robin Walbridge finally gave the order to abandon ship, the Bounty rolled over and tossed the crew into the Atlantic Ocean 90 miles off Cape Hatteras during the storm. Walbridge disappeared and is presumed dead. One crew member drowned in the Oct. 29 sinking of the three-masted ship, which was built for the 1962 movie "Mutiny on the Bounty.

It's the time of the year when high school football coaches start designing new uniforms for the coming season, and let me make an urgent plea: Can the jersey numbers please be visible to the naked eye? For some unknown reason, new jerseys keep being designed on which the numbers can barely be seen if you're sitting in the bleachers or a press box unless you have binoculars. And even then, they can be tough to identify. It's not good to get grandmothers and grandfathers angry, not to mention TV announcers and sportswriters, but that's what several teams did this past season with their fancy, Nike-designed uniforms.