Aurora Shooter Under Care Of University's Psychiatrist

New details about the psychiatric student responsible for last week's tragic shooting at a movie screening of "Dark Knight Rising" in Aurora, Colorado are emerging. James Holmes, a Phd. student at the University of Colorado, was under the care of a university psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton, prior to his recent decision to withdraw from his graduate studies at the school. According to the Denver Post, Holmes allegedly mailed a notebook to Dr. Fenton prior to carrying out the movie theater shooting that left 12 dead and more than 70 injured. The Denver Post is also reporting that Holmes' attorney has accused prosecutors of leaking damaging information to the media to discredit her client, a charge denied by the prosecution, which responded by claiming that some media stories about Holmes may have been fabricated, particularly stories reported by NBC News and Fox News.

Those dueling motions included the disclosure that Holmes, a 24-year-old Californian who enrolled in a doctorate program at the University of Colorado, was seeing Dr. Lynne Fenton, a psychiatrist. Fenton is the medical director of student mental-health services at CU's Anschutz Medical Campus.

Judge William Sylvester set a hearing Monday morning to consider the request by Holmes' attorneys that the notebook be turned over to them and prosecutors' motion that it remain sealed. The disclosure that Holmes was seeing Fenton raised serious questions in a possible death-penalty case, none of which the attorneys or university and law enforcement officials would discuss, citing a gag order.

Did Holmes reveal his plans to Fenton? Did Fenton tell the police? Will it become the basis of an insanity defense?

Therapists are required by law to investigate any threat of violence. They are supposed to determine the likelihood that the threats are real. If therapists believe a threat is real, they have a legal obligation to protect the intended victim or victims — notifying the police or taking whatever step necessary.

It appears that Fenton never opened Holmes' notebook, which was seized at CU's Anschutz campus by Aurora police after they obtained a search warrant. Fenton could not be reached for commentFriday . . .

Meanwhile, defense attorneys filed a motion seeking access to the contents of the package that Holmes apparently mailed to Fenton and identification of who had access to it in what appears to be an effort to figure out the source of the leak. Chambers responded by saying that the information in reports by Fox News and NBC were inaccurate, casting doubt on whether the person who leaked the story to the network was a law enforcement agent with access to the correct information.

"For instance, the Fox News story stated that the FBI took possession of the package — this is incorrect, as it was the Aurora Police Department," Chambers wrote in the motion filed Friday.

Police are not examining the contents of the package, Chambers said. "The contents were secured and not examined and held for potential in camera review," she wrote, referring to the process where a judge privately reviews information to decide whether the defense and prosecution may have access to it. Chambers also said media outlets may have made up sources and information.

"To put it bluntly, the People are extremely dubious of the media assertions that 'law enforcement sources' exist," she wrote. The media, she said, are getting information from "hoaxers, fraudsters or maybe from nobody at all.

The Denver Post also reported that Dr. Fenton had been reprimanded in 2005 by the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners for writing prescriptions to herself, her husband  and an employee. CNN is also reporting that Dr. Fenton formerly served as chief of physical medicine for the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio, Texas.