Thread: Loughner to Plead Guilty in Giffords Shooting

Updated August 4, 2012, 10:49 p.m. ET.

Loughner to Plead Guilty in Giffords Shooting, Official Says

By EVAN PEREZ

Jared Loughner, the young Tucson man accused of shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six people, is set to plead guilty Tuesday, an official familiar with the case said Saturday.

A psychologist appointed by the court is expected to say at the hearing that he is competent to plead guilty, the official said. A previously scheduled status hearing has been changed to a change-of-plea hearing.

Mr. Loughner is expected to agree to a life sentence under the plea deal, the official said.

In February, the psychologist said Mr. Loughner, a diagnosed schizophrenic, remained incompetent to stand trial. But she said at the time that the defendant was making progress toward competency, according to federal Judge Larry A. Burns, who is hearing the case.

News of Mr. Loughner's plea agreement was earlier reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Loughner is accused of a mass shooting outside a Tucson grocery store in January 2011 that left six dead. Thirteen other people were wounded, including Ms. Giffords, who later resigned her seat in Congress to focus on her recovery.

In May 2011, Judge Burns declared Mr. Loughner not competent to stand trial and ordered that he be held in federal custody until he could be restored to competency.

Write to Evan Perez at evan.perez@wsj.com

Loughner to Plead Guilty in Giffords Shooting, Official Says - WSJ.com

August 7, 2012 3:24 PM

Accused Tucson shooter ruled mentally fit for deal

(CBS/AP) TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal judge agreed with a court-appointed psychiatrist's opinion that the man accused of shooting former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and many others in a Tucson parking lot in 2011 is competent to enter a plea.

U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns' ruling set the stage for Jared Lee Loughner to plead guilty. A plea agreement is expected to see the 23-year-old college dropout sentenced to life in prison, taking the possibility of the death penalty off the table in the federal case, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press on Saturday. The person was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier Tuesday, in a joint statement released with her husband, Mark Kelly, Giffords said she was satisfied with the expected plea agreement, and she hopes it will allow victims of the mass shooting to move on with their lives.

During the hearing, Loughner's federal psychologist, Dr. Christina Pietz, testified that Loughner at different times believed and doubted whether Giffords survived the shooting, saying sometimes that there was no way anyone could have survived being shot to the head and other times saying he knew she was alive.

"'If this is true, Jared is a failure,'" Pietz said Loughner told her.
Experts had concluded that Loughner suffers from schizophrenia, and officials at a federal prison have forcibly medicated him with psychotropic drugs for more than a year.

Almost immediately after his arrest, there were questions about Loughner's mental state, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports. Soon after the shootings a videotape surfaced on YouTube of Loughner, from behind the camera, ranting as he walked around his college campus, putting his bizarre behavior on public display.

With Loughner's competency established, a formal change-of-plea hearing will follow. That's when those in the court will hear from Loughner at length for the first time, as the judge questions him about the agreement and changing his plea to guilty.

Burns may ask Loughner to recite his actions in his own words, but either his lawyer or the federal prosecutor could just read the facts of the January 2011 shooting spree at a Tucson supermarket, where Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with constituents.

Either way, Loughner will be asked to acknowledge that he shot and killed six people, including the top federal judge in Arizona, and wounded 13 others, including Giffords. He'll need to convince Burns he understands what is going on, what he's doing and what he did.

Loughner could break down, change his mind about pleading guilty or show so little understanding of what he's doing that Burns rejects the plea, lawyers not involved in the case said Monday.

"The fact that there is this planned change of plea is no guarantee that it will go forward," said Paul Charlton, a former U.S. attorney for Arizona. "There are any number of things that would happen that would either cause it to be removed from the calendar or not go forward at all."

Accused Tucson shooter mentally fit, pleads guilty - CBS News

Loughner Pleads Guilty to Ariz. Shooting


By BOB CHRISTIE and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. August 7, 2012 (AP)

Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty Tuesday to going on a shooting rampage at a political gathering, killing six people and wounding 13 others, including his intended target, then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Loughner's plea spares him the death penalty and came soon after a federal judge found that months of forcibly medicating him to treat his schizophrenia had made the 23-year-old college dropout competent.

At one point, Judge Larry A. Burns asked Loughner if he understood the charges against him and what the government would need to convict him.

"Yes, I understand," Loughner replied.

The judge said that Loughner was a different person and that he is able to help his lawyers in his defense. Burns said that observing Loughner in the court left "no question that he understands what's happening today."

Loughner faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The outcome was welcomed by some victims, including Giffords herself, as a way to avoid a lengthy, possibly traumatic trial and years of legal wrangling over a death sentence.

"The pain and loss caused by the events of Jan. 8, 2011, are incalculable," Giffords said in a joint statement with her husband, Mark Kelly. "Avoiding a trial will allow us — and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community — to continue with our recovery."

Experts had concluded that Loughner suffers from schizophrenia, and officials at a federal prison have forcibly medicated him with psychotropic drugs for more than a year.

Court-appointed pyschologist Christina Pietz testified for an hour about how she believes Loughner became competent. Loughner listened calmly without expression. His arms were crossed over his stomach, lurched slightly forward and looking straight at Pietz.

At one point, he smiled and nodded when psychologist mentioned he had a special bond with one of the prison guards.

A plea agreement offers something for both sides, said Quin Denvir, a California defense attorney who has worked with Loughner attorney Judy Clarke on the case against unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Prosecutors would avoid a potentially lengthy and costly trial and appeal, knowing that the defendant will be locked up for life. Clarke managed to avoid the death penalty for other high-profile clients such as Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph, who bombed abortion clinics in the late 1990s and Atlanta's Olympic park in 1996.

The top prosecutor in southern Arizona's Pima County said last year that she may file state charges in the case that could carry the death penalty. An official in the prosecutor's office, Amelia Craig Cramer, declined to comment, saying the office did not have an active prosecution against Loughner.

Denvir said it was possible that the plea agreement calls for the state to avoid pursuing criminal charges against Loughner, though that's not a given.

"Ideally (as a defense attorney) you'd like to have it resolved all at once, but sometimes you have to take one at a time," he said.

The decision to spare Loughner a federal death sentence makes sense, said Dale Baich, a federal public defender in Phoenix who handles capital case appeals and isn't involved in the case.

"As time went on and there were numerous evaluations, I think everybody had a better understanding of Mr. Loughner's mental illness." Baich said.

He added: "It appears that he will need to be treated for the rest of his life in order to remain competent."

Loughner Pleads Guilty to Ariz. Shooting - ABC News