CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The judge hearing the case against James E. Holmes, the gunman accused of killing 12 people and wounding dozens more at an Aurora movie theater in July, agreed Friday to postpone Holmes’s arraignment for two months at the defense’s request.

Judge William B. Sylvester ruled late Thursday that there was enough evidence presented during a three-day preliminary hearing for Holmes to stand trial on 166 counts of murder, attempted murder, and other charges. But he agreed Friday to postpone the arraignment to March 12, to give Holmes’s defense lawyers more time to enter a plea.