Jim Finster, the campus director of academic support services, recalled that attorney Annalissa Philbin had ‘‘instructed me to purge those data.’’
‘‘Admittedly, I have not completed that task yet, but was planning on doing it very shortly,’’ Finster wrote in an email to Philbin. ‘‘Should I change those plans?’’
It’s unclear if Philbin responded, but the university’s director of media relations forwarded the exchange to another attorney with a blunt message: ‘‘What??’’
On Wednesday, university officials provided a later email, from Aug. 8, in which Philbin said no information should be purged at that time.
In the days after the shooting, the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s office asked Judge William B. Sylvester to bar the university from releasing records requested by numerous media organizations. Prosecutors argued that the information could jeopardize Holmes’ right to a fair trial. Sylvester agreed, but amended his order last month to allow the release after media organizations objected in court.
Holmes is charged with multiple first-degree murder and attempted murder counts. He has not entered a plea and won’t do so until after a weeklong preliminary hearing in which prosecutors will present evidence supporting the charges. That hearing is scheduled to begin Jan. 7. A motions hearing in the case is set for Monday.
Holmes’ attorneys have said he suffers from a mental illness.
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Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Olympia, Wash., Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., Matt Volz in Helena, Mont., and Peter Banda in Denver contributed to this report.
