Loughner attorneys seek halt to forced medication

Lawyers for the accused gunman charged with wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in a deadly shooting rampage told a federal appeals court on Thursday that forcing him to take anti-psychotic drugs could cause him irreparable harm.

But 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski expressed skepticism during the hearing, which was held in Pasadena, a few miles from Los Angeles, saying of the defense team's argument, "I don't buy it."
The three-judge panel adjourned after 90 minutes without issuing a ruling and gave no indication how long it would deliberate before deciding whether to lift an earlier court order that temporarily bars prison officials from medicating Jared Loughner against his will.
Loughner did not attend the hearing. He remains held at a hospital for federal prisoners in Missouri after a lower-court judge in May declared him incompetent to stand trial on charges he killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Giffords, at a public event in Tucson, Arizona.
The 22-year-old college dropout, described by his own lawyers as "gravely mentally ill," has since been undergoing psychiatric evaluation to determine whether his ability to understand court proceedings against him can be restored.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns denied an emergency petition filed by Loughner's attorneys in June seeking to bar prison officials from forcibly medicating him. Burns said he would defer to the judgment of doctors treating Loughner.
But the appeals court days ago ordered a halt to the involuntary medication while it reviewed the matter.
Federal prosecutor Christina Canabillis argued on Thursday that doctors were prompted to medicate Loughner against his will due to a number of outbursts in which he threw chairs in his cell and spat at one of his own attorneys. Such behavior clearly poses a danger to the medical personnel trying to determine his competency, she said.
But defense lawyer Reuben Cahn argued that forcing anti-psychotic drugs on Loughner amounted to a "serious invasion on personal liberty" resulting in "irreparable damage." Prison officials coerced Loughner by threatening to strap him down and inject him if he refused to take pills prescribed by his doctors, Cahn said.
"Nothing can reverse the injury done to him," Cahn said.
Kozinski expressed doubt about permanent harm, comparing the situation to a person taking pain medication.
Loughner is accused of opening fire on Giffords and a crowd of bystanders outside a Tucson supermarket on January 8. Six victims were killed and 13 were wounded, including Giffords, who is still recovering from a gunshot to the head.
He pleaded not guilty in March to 49 charges stemming from the shooting rampage at the "Congress on Your Corner" event, including multiple counts of first-degree murder.
At the competency hearing in May, Judge Burns cited the conclusions of two medical experts that Loughner suffers from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions.

Photos show Congresswoman Giffords

HOUSTON | Images of a smiling Rep. Gabrielle Giffords were posted Sunday on her Facebook page, photos that show her with shorter hair but few signs that she suffered a gunshot wound in the head. The photos were taken May 17 outside the rehabilitation facility where Giffords has been undergoing treatment since she was wounded in the Jan. 8 attack in Tucson, Ariz. Since then, access to the Arizona congresswoman has been tightly controlled. Until Sunday, no clear images had been released. Giffords spokesman

C.J. Karamargin said staff members released the photos Sunday to help satisfy “intense interest in the congresswoman’s appearance.” The timing coincides with plans to release Giffords from the hospital later this month or in early July. But the photos give little indication of Giffords’ cognitive abilities — what, for example, her speech is like after being shot in the left side of the head. The images also provide no hints as to when, or if, she will be able to resume her job. Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff, has indicated that while the congresswoman is able to speak and walk, she remains a shadow of her former self.

.Several close to Gabrielle Giffords to witness shuttle liftoff

The launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this week will reunite victims, family members and heroes of the Jan. 8 shooting spree near Tucson that killed six people and wounded 13.

Capt. Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will command the shuttle, which is scheduled to lift off Friday at 12:47 p.m. Arizona time from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a two-week mission to the International Space Station.

Giffords, who was shot in the head during the assassination attempt and has been recovering in Houston, wants to watch her husband blast into space.

"We're really thrilled that the congresswoman will be going, too," said Ron Barber, Giffords' district director, who is still on leave after being shot in the face and leg but will attend the launch. "I've always been an incredible fan of NASA and the space program, even as a young guy growing up. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, really, to see a launch, and to know the commander, and to be with the congresswoman who has made a really good effort to get there."

Her doctors could make a medical announcement today.

At Cape Canaveral, she would be kept away from the thousands of people who crowd the area to watch shuttle launches. She likely would be secluded even from many of NASA's other VIP guests. Among those guests will be President Barack Obama and his family, as well as another of Giffords' wounded staff members and two of the doctors who helped to save their lives.

A complete list of Giffords-related guests was not available, but other Tucson guests include:

- Ross Zimmerman, the father of Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords' 30-year-old community-outreach director who was killed in the mass shooting at the constituent event outside a Safeway grocery store.

- Pam Simon, another Giffords aide who was wounded in the attack, as well as Pia Carusone, her chief of staff, and C.J. Karamargin, her congressional spokesman.

- Drs. Peter Rhee and Randall Friese, who provided emergency medical care to Giffords and other victims at University Medical Center in Tucson.

Zimmerman, who has bonded with Giffords' Tucson staff in the months since the tragedy, said his family was invited to the launch by NASA at Kelly's request. He is paying for the trip himself.

"I've never seen a space shuttle before, so that's exciting," Zimmerman told The Arizona Republic. "But for me, it's really more about getting to spend time with the people from Gabe's office. They were very close to Gabe, and there's a lot of grief that they are dealing with relevant to his loss."

Zimmerman said his son was "extremely supportive" of Kelly's space career and "would be hugely excited about this."

Simon, who was shot twice during the massacre at the constituent event that she and Gabe Zimmerman organized, worked closely with him and was pleased to hear that his father would be at the launch.

"Gabe will be on all of our minds throughout this," Simon said. "We miss him terribly and there will be an empty place in our hearts and in the stands, but Ross has become a member of the Giffords family."

Simon and her husband, Bruce, will be making their second appearance at a NASA launch. In 2008, both were on hand to see the space shuttle Discovery take off as part of a Giffords entourage. Kelly commanded that mission as well. Simon recalled a powerful moment from that event in which Kelly, right before launch, told onlookers over the shuttle radio to "stand by for the greatest show on earth." Then the smoke started to come out, she said.

"Whether Gabby comes or not, I want to be there to support her family and cheer Mark on," Simon said.

Zimmerman and Simon were unsure whether they would be able to visit with Giffords were she to attend. Zimmerman said he would love the opportunity to say "hi" again to Obama, whom he met briefly when the president spoke at a memorial service in Tucson four days after the shooting.

"I have no idea if or when the congresswoman is going to meet with Obama and the first family," Karamargin said. "I'm not even sure if that will happen."

Rhee, UMC's trauma medical director, said he didn't foresee any medical reason that would prevent Giffords from flying from Houston to Florida and attending the takeoff. Early on after the shooting, Rhee discussed the upcoming shuttle mission with Kelly, whom he described as distraught over his wife's brain injury.

Rhee said he was pleased that the space flight is proceeding with Kelly at the helm.

"I had a feeling if he did go on the mission, that there would be a lot of public attention," said Rhee, who is hoping to attend the launch with his 16-year-old son, Michael, a student at Ironwood Ridge High School in Tucson. "I think this will be a good boost for him (Kelly), her (Giffords), the nation, Tucson and everybody."

Mental exam for Giffords shooting suspect Loughner

A judge has ordered the man charged in the January shooting rampage in Arizona to undergo a mental evaluation to see if he is competent to stand trial.

The evaluation at a specialist facility in Missouri will be filmed.

It will not examine whether Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was sane at the time of the shooting in Tucson, which left six people dead and 13 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Mr Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the attack.

They include killing US District Judge John Roll and Mrs Giffords' aide, Gabe Zimmerman, and attempting to kill Mrs Giffords and two other aides.

Mr Loughner is also charged with causing the deaths of four others, including a nine-year-old girl, who were not federal employees, causing injury and death to participants at a "federally provided activity", and using a gun in a crime of violence.

In total, 14 of the charges are punishable by death. However, prosecutors have not yet said if they will pursue the maximum penalty.

Mental disease or defect

Mr Loughner will travel to the Bureau of Prisons facility in Springfield, Missouri, because prosecutors had argued that his evaluation should take place at a medical referral centre that provided forensic services and had increased resources.

His lawyers had wanted the exam to be done by an expert at a prison in Arizona, as it might disrupt their relationship with him. They also wanted assurances that it would be limited to ascertaining whether their client was competent to stand trial, not whether he was sane on 8 January.

Judge Larry Burns ruled against the defence's first request, saying the relocation to Springfield was "unavoidable", but agreed with the second.

"The question at issue is whether the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him, or to assist properly in his defence."

The judge ordered that the exam be conducted no later than 29 April, and said he expected a report to be submitted by 11 May.

Three slain in Tucson rampage were shot in head

Three of the six people killed in the Jan. 8 rampage that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) died of gunshot wounds to the head, according to autopsy records released Monday.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to bar the release of the records, saying that news stories about them could "taint the jury pool" and jeopardize a fair trial.

Prosecutors also told Burns that the families of five of the victims requested that the autopsy results be kept private. But the judge rejected the prosecutors' request last week and allowed their release by the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office.

The records show that Giffords aide Gabriel Zimmerman and two victims in their 70s - Phyllis Schneck and Dorwan Stoddard- died of gunshots to the head. Nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green was killed by a gunshot wound to her torso, with the bullet striking her aorta, kidney, stomach and small intestine.

U.S. District Court John M. Roll was shot in the lower back, with a bullet perforating his aorta, according to the autopsy report. Dorothy Morris, also in her 70s, was killed by a bullet that pierced her heart.

Nineteen people, including Giffords, were injured in the attack outside a Tucson grocery store. The suspect in the shootings, Jared Lee Loughner, has been charged with 49 federal counts.

Loughner is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Tucson.

Chief Medical Examiner Bruce O. Parks said in a statement Monday afternoon that his office would not discuss the reports.