CENTENNIAL, Colo. — An Arapahoe County district judge ruled last week that dating profiles and correspondence from AdultFriendFinder.com and Match.com can be used as evidence in the trial of accused movie theater shooter James Holmes.
Judge Carlos Samour, in his 29-page opinion, said that Holmes couldn't meet the burden of demonstrating protected expectation of privacy in comments he made on his profiles in his efforts to find dating partners and therefore can't suppress those records.
Samour, noting that prosecutors don't intend on introducing into evidence records containing communication between Holmes and other AdultFriendFinder.com and Match.com members, said that because Holmes couldn't meet the burden of privacy, law enforcement did not need an order or warrant to obtain the postings.
Holmes had asserted that the postings were protected by the Fourth Amendment and Colorado statutes, but Samour disagreed.
Revelations that Holmes had AdultFriendFinder.com and Match.com accounts surfaced on TMZ.com shortly after the massacre.
Holmes created the profile on AdultFriendFinder.com on July 5, 2012, and included a picture of himself with orange hair just as officials in Aurora, Colo., said he looked when he was arrested after allegedly killing 12 people and injuring 70 others during a "Batman" movie.
In the profile, Holmes described himself as a straight man and said he was seeking a sexual relationship with "Women, Couples (man and woman), Groups or Couples (2 women)." He also noted that he's interested in "Erotic Chat or Email, Discreet Relationship, 1-on-1 sex or Group sex (3 or more!)."
Holmes allegedly used the screen name classicjimbo, and included a cryptic message on the top of the profile which read, "Will you visit me in prison?"
Prosecutors could use the information to contradict a claim by his lawyers that Holmes was mentally ill and didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. They could argue that Holmes knew the shooting was wrong if he expected to go to prison.
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