AURORA | Another 11 jurors were questioned and four of them sent to the next round of questioning in the Aurora theater shooting trial Tuesday, but concerns about the length of each day’s questioning continued.

Through four days of individual questioning, Judge Carlos Samour Jr. has sent 20 jurors to the group questioning stage, far outpacing his goal of eight jurors every five days. At this rate, individual questioning could last only six weeks instead of 16 weeks as originally planned.

“We are way ahead of schedule, which is nice, I love that,” Samour said.

But the questioning process has been slow, with some jurors being questioned for more than an hour and each day’s session stretching past 5 p.m. when the courthouse typically closes.

District Attorney George Brauchler asked to trim the questioning from 20 minutes per side, per juror, to just 10 Tuesday, but lawyers for accused shooter James Holmes objected.

Samour said he is planning on continuing at the current schedule — which includes calling six jurors in the morning and six in the afternoon — at least through Thursday. After that, Samour said he will reconsider the schedule.

The judge said each session is taking a long time, but he chided the two sides for not agreeing to release some jurors sooner. In one case Tuesday, a woman was questioned for an hour only to have the two sides agree after her questioning that she should be released. Samour said the two sides could have let him know sooner that the woman could be let go.

Daniel King, one of the public defenders representing Holmes, said the long days are especially difficult on the defense team because working well into the evening each day means they have not had time to work on other trial preparations.

The defense has asked several times for Samour to delay the trial, but the judge has refused. King reiterated Tuesday that the defense wants a delay.

“We are not prepared to begin this trial,” he said.

King said he would like the judge to address the number of jurors being called to court each day, not the amount of time the two sides get to question them.

The four jurors kept Tuesday included three men and a woman. Among those released were a woman who said she could not ignore previous media reports about the case and a woman who said appearing for two sessions of jury duty so far has cost her $500 in lost wages.

Holmes sat quietly throughout the hearing wearing a blue dress shirt and khaki pants. He doodled on a legal pad and occasionally twirled his pen in his fingers.