By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News
The man charged with killing 12 people in a crowded Colorado movie theater last year must waive all medical confidentiality and agree to be drugged for a psychiatric exam if he wants to plead guilty by reason of insanity, a judge ruled Monday.
Circuit Judge William Sylvester confirmed in the order that Holmes, 25, had asked to enter an insanity plea to 166 felony counts of murder, attempted murder and other felonies in the shootings July 20 at a theater in Aurora showing the premiere of “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.”
Holmes’ lawyers had raised several objections to the state’s law governing insanity pleas. Among them were complaints that fully waiving their client’s medical confidentiality and that administering drugs to assist in any court-ordered examination violated his constitutional rights.
Sylvester rejected those claims on Friday.
Holmes is scheduled to be arraigned in 18th Circuit Court in Arapahoe County on Tuesday.
If Holmes goes through with an insanity defense, Sylvester said, he will immediately have to turn over the names, addresses and medical reports of any doctor or psychologist who has ever treated him for a psychiatric condition.
He will also immediately be committed for a state examination, during which doctors will be allowed to administer “such drugs as are medically appropriate” to ensure his lucidity, Sylvester ordered