James Holmes court

James Holmes, the man
accused of opening fire at a
Colorado movie theater

,
appeared dazed in court
today, the first time he has
been seen in public since he allegedly killed 12 people and
wounded another 58 during a
showing of the new Batman
movie. Holmes, 24, appeared in court
unshaven with a shock of
dyed reddish-orange hair, and
a prison jumpsuit that
appeared to conceal a
bulletproof vest. He said nothing in the
courtroom and spent much of
the hearing looking down, his
head drooping at times. He
demeanor ranged from a
glassy bug-eyed stare to appearing to be nodding off. Holmes' appearance raised
questions among some
observers about his mental
competency. "He's not in this courtroom
mentally," former FBI profiler
Brad Garrett, an ABC News
analyst, told "World News."
"He's elsewhere. He's in some
alternative reality that he's created. I also think that
there's a combination of the
reality of what has happened
to him has set in, as to what
it's done to himself as well as
to the victims." ABC News legal analyst Dan
Abrams told "World News"
the scene also might set the
stage for an insanity defense. "This is likely how he was
arrested, what he looked like
at the time," Abrams said.
"This is somebody who was
arrested at the scene, dressed
up like the killer with the weapon, so you start to think
his most likely defense is
some mental defect defense.
So why would you suddenly
want to make him seem more
sane? But with that said, I think his lawyers are
probably just getting to
know him now and there
was just no reason to make
any change."