Lawyer for Boulder suspect Ahmad Alissa also represented Aurora shooter
One of the lawyers for accused Colorado gunman Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa also represented the convicted killer in the 2012 Aurora slaughter.
Alissa is being represented by a team of public defenders, including Daniel King, who defended James Holmes, the madman who shot up a packed movie theater nearly a decade ago during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
Holmes is currently serving a dozen consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole — one for each of his victims — plus 3,318 years.
In 2014, King, the chief trial deputy at the Colorado State Public Defenders office, admitted to making mistakes in an unrelated murder case, the Denver Post reported at the time.
King said he was “negligent” in defending the man, Sir Mario Owens, including by not cross-examining a witness and not calling other witnesses to testify, the report said.
Asked whether he was qualified to be the lead attorney in Owens’ case, King testified, “No, not really. But I guess my ego …”
Owens was on death row at the time.
Alissa made his first court appearance on Thursday, with his other lawyer Kathryn Herold indicating that they needed time to assess his undisclosed mental illness.
Alissa is charged with murdering 10 people at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder on Monday. He is also charged with shooting at a police officer, who survived.
