Defense lawyers of James Holmes, accused of firing a gun into Colorado movie theater in July 2012, may not be prepared for the February 2014 trial date, according to the Associated Press.
Holmes allegedly shot and killed12 people, leaving 70 people injured after his reported shooting spree.
"If we want this trial to go in February, something's got to give," defense lawyer Daniel King told County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. in open court.
According to Holmes' attorneys, they are rushing to complete the work needed for the judge's current trial schedule.
"Defense lawyers told Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. they are rushing to complete pretrial motions and waiting for prosecutors to whittle down their list of potential trial witnesses, which now stands at about 4,000," AP reports.
On Friday, the Colorado Mental Health Institute attempted to block the release of psychiatric testing materials to the prosecution the prosecution concerning Holmes, according to the Denver Post.
"Earlier this month, prosecutors asked the institute to turn over its entire case file on the theater shooter, James Holmes, along with the specialized materials used to conduct his psychiatric evaluation," the Post reports. "Doctors at the institute, in Pueblo, evaluated Holmes this summer following his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity."
The medical center claims revealing their test protocols would be detrimental to their research and procedures. Holmes' defense lawyers "argued in a motion that prosecutors are asking for things still covered by doctor-patient confidentiality despite Holmes' insanity plea,'" according to the Post.
"Disclosing the testing instruments and raw data is similar to publishing test questions with the answers," the motion states. "The test becomes useless when those taking it know how to answer the questions."
Judge Samour told the court he would rule on the issue of deadlines in the next few days.
