Defense attorneys for the 24-year-old suspect in the 16th Street Mall stabbings filed a motion to reduce pretrial publicity because of the suspect’s mental health.

Colorado State public defender Ariana Burnette — the defense attorney appointed to Elijah Caudill — filed a supplemental motion in Denver District Court on Jan. 17 requesting that the court limit pre-trial publicity and the judge deny requests for expanded media coverage in Caudill’s ongoing case.

The supplemental motion requested to “limit pretrial publicity of a person suffering from obvious, severe and debilitating mental illness,” according to court records.

Following the string of attacks that injured two and killed two others Jan. 11-12, Caudill’s mental health has been brought into question.

Two months before the attacks, Caudill left the Denver jail, with the assistance of the Bridges program, a new agency in the judiciary that helps coordinate services for defendants struggling with mental health disorders.

Caudill had been in-and-out of custody with a 15-count arrest rap sheet since 2018 that included a felony menacing knife attack before Denver County Court Judge Kelly Cherry freed him from the Denver jail with correspondence from the Bridges program agreeing to help him. 

In court documents in the new first-degree murder case filed by Denver District Attorney John Walsh, Caudill’s home address is listed as the Denver County Courthouse and his home phone number is listed as the number for Third Way Center, a mental health clinic in Denver.

Defense attorneys also asked the judge to “prohibit the prosecution and its agents from obtaining any records from the Denver County Sheriff or jail about medical or professional visits with Mr. Caudill.” 

Records obtained by The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9NEWS, detailed two times when it was reported that Caudill was hearing voices.

A Colorado Department of Corrections record of Caudill’s history in the prison system reported an incident on May 20, 2023, in which he began yelling in a day room. Asked if he was OK, he responded “yes” – “just that the voices in his head were bothering him today.”

A Department of Corrections case manager’s Feb. 21, 2024, report of a conversation with someone who had talked to Caudill in jail reported that he was “hearing voices and refusing to take his meds.”

Under a year after the report of refusing to take his medication, and two months after being released from jail, Caudill was arrested for allegedly killing 71-year-old Celinda Levno and 34-year-old Nicholas Burkett and injuring two others in a set of weekend stabbing attacks on the 16th Street Mall, the popular tourist neighborhood.

Caudill was arrested Jan. 12 and first-degree murder charges were filed by Walsh’s office on Friday. He is facing two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and four violent crime sentence enhancers. 

Caudill, who remains in jail on a no-bond hold, is due in court for an advisement hearing Friday.

The Denver Gazette reporter Chris Osher and 9NEWS contributed to this report.