Updated at 4:22 p.m. ET
(CBS/AP) DENVER - The former graduate student accused in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting was being treated by a psychiatrist at the university where he studied, according to court papers filed Friday.
Defense attorneys for James Holmes, 24, made the disclosure in a court motion. It sought to discover the source of leaks to some media outlets that Holmes sent the psychiatrist a package containing a notebook with descriptions of an attack.
The motion says that the leak violated a judge's gag order in the case and jeopardizes Holmes' right to a fair trial.
"The government's disclosure of this confidential and privileged information has placed Mr. Holmes' constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial by an impartial jury in serious jeopardy," wrote the attorneys.
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The motion adds that the package contained communications between Holmes and his psychiatrist that should be shielded from public view. The document describes Holmes as a "psychiatric patient" of Dr. Lynne Fenton.
Calls to Holmes' lawyer, Daniel King, were referred to the head of the Colorado State Public Defender's office, Douglas Wilson, who was out of the office and did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
A message left with Fenton's office was not immediately returned. The University of Colorado's website identifies her as the medical director of the school's Student Mental Health Services.
Casmir Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's office, said she could not comment.
Previously, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that U.S. postal inspectors had been searching through the mailboxes near Holmes' home looking for letters and packages he might have sent out. They didn't find any, but that's because the package had already been sent before the shooting.
On Monday afternoon, investigators scoured the mailroom at the University of Colorado-Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus and found what they'd been searching for: a piece of mail from the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman film last week.
Before opening it, the sheriff's bomb squad handled it with a robot and took an X-ray, just in case there were explosives inside.
Sources told Miller the letter was from a pent-up Holmes to one of his professors. In it, he talked about shooting people and even included crude drawings of a gunman and his victims.
This was not random. Police had an investigative lead that put them in that mailroom and apparently the lead came indirectly from Holmes himself. Apparently sometime after his arrest he mentioned that a letter had gone to the school from him, and that's what they were looking for.
Authorities said Holmes legally purchased four guns before the attack at Denver-area sporting goods stores — a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols. To buy the guns, Holmes had to pass background checks that can take as little as 20 minutes in Colorado.
State law bars from purchasing firearms people who have been found mentally defective by a judge or have been committed to a mental institution. The statute makes no restrictions on buyers who are being treated for possible mental illness.
Holmes spent a year as a graduate student in the university's intimate, competitive neuroscience program before dropping out without explanation three days after taking a year-end final, university officials have said.
They have refused to disclose more about Holmes, citing the judge's gag order on law enforcement agencies.
At a press conference earlier this week, they acknowledged that students in the program that Holmes studied in are carefully monitored. They said a graduate student experiencing problems would normally be referred to student support services.
(CBS/AP) DENVER - The former graduate student accused in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting was being treated by a psychiatrist at the university where he studied, according to court papers filed Friday.
Defense attorneys for James Holmes, 24, made the disclosure in a court motion. It sought to discover the source of leaks to some media outlets that Holmes sent the psychiatrist a package containing a notebook with descriptions of an attack.
The motion says that the leak violated a judge's gag order in the case and jeopardizes Holmes' right to a fair trial.
"The government's disclosure of this confidential and privileged information has placed Mr. Holmes' constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial by an impartial jury in serious jeopardy," wrote the attorneys.
Special Section: Colorado Movie Theater Massacre
Ambulances lagged as Aurora cops pleaded for help
NFL star donates $100K to Colo. shooting victims
The motion adds that the package contained communications between Holmes and his psychiatrist that should be shielded from public view. The document describes Holmes as a "psychiatric patient" of Dr. Lynne Fenton.
Calls to Holmes' lawyer, Daniel King, were referred to the head of the Colorado State Public Defender's office, Douglas Wilson, who was out of the office and did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
A message left with Fenton's office was not immediately returned. The University of Colorado's website identifies her as the medical director of the school's Student Mental Health Services.
Casmir Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's office, said she could not comment.
Previously, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that U.S. postal inspectors had been searching through the mailboxes near Holmes' home looking for letters and packages he might have sent out. They didn't find any, but that's because the package had already been sent before the shooting.
On Monday afternoon, investigators scoured the mailroom at the University of Colorado-Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus and found what they'd been searching for: a piece of mail from the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 at a midnight screening of the new Batman film last week.
Before opening it, the sheriff's bomb squad handled it with a robot and took an X-ray, just in case there were explosives inside.
Sources told Miller the letter was from a pent-up Holmes to one of his professors. In it, he talked about shooting people and even included crude drawings of a gunman and his victims.
This was not random. Police had an investigative lead that put them in that mailroom and apparently the lead came indirectly from Holmes himself. Apparently sometime after his arrest he mentioned that a letter had gone to the school from him, and that's what they were looking for.
Authorities said Holmes legally purchased four guns before the attack at Denver-area sporting goods stores — a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols. To buy the guns, Holmes had to pass background checks that can take as little as 20 minutes in Colorado.
State law bars from purchasing firearms people who have been found mentally defective by a judge or have been committed to a mental institution. The statute makes no restrictions on buyers who are being treated for possible mental illness.
Holmes spent a year as a graduate student in the university's intimate, competitive neuroscience program before dropping out without explanation three days after taking a year-end final, university officials have said.
They have refused to disclose more about Holmes, citing the judge's gag order on law enforcement agencies.
At a press conference earlier this week, they acknowledged that students in the program that Holmes studied in are carefully monitored. They said a graduate student experiencing problems would normally be referred to student support services.