Loughner found incompetent

Jared Lee Loughner, arrested for a deadly shooting rampage in Tucson Ariz. on Jan. 8, has been ruled incompetent to endure trial. Loughner, after an angry episode, was pulled out of the trial Wednesday by U.S. Marshals.

Tucson shooting hurt 13 individuals and killed another six

Gabrielle Giffords is a U.S. Representative who was having a community meeting outside a supermarket where the shooting spree occurred on Jan 8. Loughner allegedly opened fire, leaving six people dead, including a 9-year-old girl and U.S. District Judge John Roll. Thirteen other people were hurt, including Rep. Giffords (D), who continues to recuperate from her head injuries. Loughner has pleaded not guilty to all of the 49 federal charges he received from the Jan. 8 shootings.

How he acted in pretrial

The 22 year old defendant said “Thank you for the freak show. She died in front of me,” while in the pretrial hearing, although it was unclear. Who he was referring to is unclear. Nobody knows.

Loughner was asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns is he wanted to behave in the court room or watch the court from another room on a TV screen to which Loughner said, “I want to watch the TV screen.”

Those who survived the attack there

There were two survivors, maybe more, of the attack that heard the outburst in the court room. Pam Simon was Gifford’s aide who was shot in the right wrist and chest. A bullet hit the back of Army Col. Bill Badger’s head, and he also attended. Loughner was subdued by people after the attack including Badger.

Defendant considered not competent

Judge Burns was asked in March to choose whether or not Loughner would be able to stand trial, which caused the hearing. After Loughner was looked at by a Jail Bureau psychologist and a court-appointed expert, Burns made his decision. Both decided that Loughner was incompetent. ”The defendant was not able to comprehend the charges,” according to Burns.

Four months at federal facility

Until Loughner is considered competent or about four months, Loughner will be in a federal facility. Another hearing will be scheduled later. It will occur September 21. He will be able to stay even longer after the four months are up. This is assuming he is considered incompetent still. It doesn’t matter how long he stays there. His stay could be extended several, many times.

How the defense will use this

It is unclear whether Loughner’s lawyers plan to argue an insanity defense. They have described him as a “gravely mentally ill man” and say that the problem will make a difference to the trial in court filings though.

Citations

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/25/jared-loughner-tucson-shooting_n_866723.html

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/giffords-shooting-suspect-loughner-taken-out-of-courtroom-after-outburst.html

CNN

cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/25/arizona.loughner.competency/?hpt=T1