Expressing frustration at trial delays, A Colorado judge again Monday postponed the trial of accused Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes, who allegedly killed 12 people and injured 70 at a July 2012 showing of "Dark Knight."

The postponement was the fifth time Holmes' meeting with justice has been delayed. Two of those postponements related to sanity evaluations for Holmes who has asked for acquittal by reason of insanity. Prosecutors want the death penalty.

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Public defenders representing Holmes acknowledge he was the shooter at the theater, but say he was undergoing a psychotic episode at the time. Jury selection had been scheduled for December 8. The defense team filed the postponement request and prosecutors didn't raise objections as long as the postponement wasn't too long.

Judge Carlos Samour expressed agitation at the prospect of Holmes continuing trial date postponements. Nonetheless, given the agreement by each side, he reset jury selection for Jan. 20.

Holmes, 26, was an expelled graduate student of neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus.  He dressed like the Joker and shot up the Aurora Century 16 multiplex with more than 400 people at a midnight showing the Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises."

The trial originally was set to begin in February 2013. It was pushed back to August and postponed when prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty, which called for additional processing.

The trial was moved to November 13, 2013, then postponed when prosecutors wanted a second mental health evaluation. The trial was reset for October 15. Samour again changed the date to December 8 after Dr. William Reid, the latest examiner conducting evaluations asked for more time.

Reid has finished his evaluation, but public defenders representing Holmes said they needed more time to go through the material

"There are simply not enough hours in the day for defense counsel to not only watch, but mentally process and digest 22 hours of forensic interviews of their client and review all of the supporting documentation," they wrote in the motion of continuation of the trial.

TagsJames holmes, Dark Knight, aurora movie theater shooting