The public will soon get its first look at the evidence against Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes.
Holmes' preliminary hearing begins on Monday and is expected to last all week, according to ABC News. At the end of the hearing, judge William Sylvester will decide if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
The prosecution is expected to present recordings of 911 calls and approximately 30 hours of video from inside the Century 16 multiplex.
Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor, told the Christian Science Monitor that such hearings occasionally spur a plea agreement after each side assess the strength of one another's case.
USA Today reports that defense attorneys have said Holmes suffers from mental illness, which could mean they plan to attempt an insanity defense.
Prosecutors will also elicit testimony from hundreds of witnesses, including many victims.
Despite intense public interest, some victims and their families said the hearing would be too painful to attend, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We talked about it as a family, but we decided not to go," Mike White said. His son was shot, but survived the massacre.
"He was really, really down. No smiles, no nothing. He is getting a little better, but he still isn't to the point of going out," White added.
The July 20, 2012, shooting left 12 people dead and 58 others injured.
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