Jun. 10—20th Judicial District Chief Judge Ingrid Bakke has denied a motion made by the King Soopers shooting defendant to try to the case outside of Boulder County, according to court documents.

In November, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 25, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to 10 counts of first-degree murder, 47 counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault, 10 counts of felony possession of a prohibited large capacity magazine, and 47 crime-of-violence sentence enhancers in connection with the March 2021 shooting.

Alissa is set for a three week trial starting Sept. 3. He is scheduled for another motions hearing on Aug. 6.

In an order, Bakke wrote that the defense had failed to meet their burden in establishing the pretrial publicity of the case had been “massive, pervasive and prejudicial” and also found that a majority of the publicity of the case occurred in March or April of 2021, shortly after the shooting occurred.

In a motions hearing on June 4, defense attorney Sam Dunn argued that, along with social media and traditional press, the work of Boulder Strong and the presence of memorials in the city also acted as reminders of the shooting and contributed to the massive publicity in the case. Dunn argued this would lead the community to be unable to act as a fair and impartial jury.

Bakke wrote in her order that the resources are “insufficient in establishing the presumption that Defendant cannot be given a fair trial.”

“Turning to the second prong, the Court also cannot find that there has been publicity that will create actual prejudice and hostility within the jury panel,” Bakke wrote in her order.

Bakke noted that the motion to change venues may be revisited during jury selection.

Bakke also denied the motion to close the courtroom to the public and press during the jury selection but said individual jury selection will be private based on the answers of jurors on their questionnaire.

“The Court agrees with the People’s argument that Defendant has failed to advance an overriding interest absent mere speculation that prospective jurors will decline to be candid during jury selection, so closure of the courtroom is unwarranted. However, as mentioned during the discussion regarding the jury selection process, the Court will conduct individual voir dire privately based upon answers to the questionnaire with only the individual juror and the attorneys present on the record,” Bakke wrote.

Bakke ruled in court that the jury would not be sequestered during the trial.

Alissa, 25, is currently in custody at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo on a $100 million bond.

On Oct. 6, Alissa was deemed legally competent and capable to proceed with trial. He was determined to be sane at the time of the shooting in an insanity evaluation that followed his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Defense attorneys requested a second insanity evaluation, which Bakke ordered to be filed by Aug. 19, according to court records.

In January, Bakke ordered the state hospital to begin providing bi-weekly reports on its progress evaluating Alissa after the Colorado Department of Human Services requested a four-month extension to complete an evaluation of Alissa following his not guilty by reason of insanity plea.

According to an arrest affidavit, police were called to the King Soopers at 3600 Table Mesa Drive at 2:40 p.m. March 22, 2021, for a report of an armed man who had shot a person in a vehicle in the store’s parking lot and was inside the store.