According to court documents retrieved by the Associated Press, the Colorado theater shootings have about 3,500 potential witnesses listed by prosecutors. These are potential witnesses the prosecution could call during the trial of defendant James Holmes.

The estimated 3,500 witnesses were listed in a defense motion filed, in which Holme’s lawyers requested more time to work through the list and perform a “complete and thorough conflict of interest check with respect to all named witnesses.”

The number of potential witnesses for the Colorado theater shooting depicts the complexity of the case. Lawyers also say that nearly 40,000 pages of documents about evidence have been filed.

There is so much evidence, in fact, that a detective at the Aurora Police Department is assigned to work full-time managing the information about the shootings.

The shooting occurred during a showing of the “The Dark Knight Rises,” and left 12 moviegoers dead and injured 70 others.

Holmes is a 25-year-old former University of Colorado graduate student in neuroscience who is charged with 166 counts in the July 20 shooting. The charges include multiple counts of murder and first-degree murder and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the student.

Holmes’ lawyers have indicated a desire to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, but the judge hasn’t decided on that yet.

Another judge entered a standard not guilty plea on Holmes’ behalf in March when his lawyers said he wasn’t ready to plead.

Judge Carlos Samour has scheduled the Holmes trial to start on February 3, 2014. The suggested trial may take three months, but the defense team said it would likely take nine months. The judge has scheduled the trial for four months.