More recently , a judge approved the use of narcoanalysis in the 2012 Aurora , Colorado shooting trial to evaluate whether James Eagan Holmes 's state of mind was valid for an insanity plea . Judge William Sylvester ruled that prosecutors would be allowed to interrogate Holmes " under the influence of a medical drug designed to loosen him up and get him to talk " , such as sodium amytal , if he filed an insanity plea . The hope was that a ' narcoanalytic interview ' could confirm whether or not he had been legally insane on 20 July , the date of the shootings . It is not known whether such an examination was carried out
2012 Aurora , Colorado shooting
2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting
Truth serum