James Holmes is of course innocent until proven guilty.
James Holmes is the man accused of shooting up the theater as he thought he was the Joker. He also apparently booby-trapped his apartment as well.
I think we can all agree that he's some form of insane (I'll not get into discussions regarding whether claiming insanity will help him avoid the death penalty, nor whether he should get the death penalty if he is competent as those are different topics for different days).
This is being written very early on Sunday morning. As of now (this is subject to change of course), the media has not reported anything regarding his motives (they have not released anything about what he has told the detectives, if anything)
Let's say he hasn't opened up yet. Zjabs has a way that will make him talk- and you may think Zjabs loony for thinking of it, but I bet it works.
Let's say that he is sitting there silently when the detectives question him, and he won't talk about anything- what he did, why he did it, etc.
Zjabs would send him back to his cell for a couple of nights.
Zjabs would then scour the Batman comics, and play into Mr Holmes' fantasy. Arkham Asylum is where the Joker was housed- so set an area up to resemble parts of that. Peruse the comics to get the names of the minor characters (doctors, guards etc) and use those names. Have someone come in dressed as Commissioner Gordon to watch the goings-on.
And then the icing on the cake- have someone dressed as Bruce Wayne interview him as 'special deputy' or some such nonsense. See....Holmes knows that this guy is Batman...and this guy knows that Holmes knows.... I guarantee you that if Wayne stays in character, he can elicit a full confession along with the reasons behind it- all Wayne has to do is admit that the Joker (Holmes) outwitted him and that it was difficult throughout the years to defeat a criminal genius like Holmes (and reference old meetings from the comics).
Sure, it's a bit...ummm...'unconventional' but I bet it works better than banging Holmes' head into the cell doors.
-Zjabs (Rochester's Official Columnist)
© 2012 Zjabs - 7/23/12
