Arrest Loughner was stopped by bystanders and was arrested by police, saying, "I plead
the Fifth," as he was taken into custody. and published on front pages nationwide.
The Washington Post described Loughner's expression in the photo as "smirking and creepy, with hollow eyes ablaze," while the art director for
The New York Times said the photo was featured on the front page because it "was the picture of the day [...] it was intense and arresting. It invited you to look and study, and wonder." Loughner was held without
bail in the
Federal Correctional Institution at Phoenix, On February 24, 2011, he was transferred to the
United States Penitentiary in Tucson. Loughner, whose hair had partially regrown since his arrest, smiled while presented with the charges related to the shooting, including the attempted killing of Giffords and two of her aides. Loughner's attorney,
Judy Clarke, requested that Judge Burns enter a plea on her client's behalf, to which a plea of not guilty was recorded. When Burns asked Clarke if Loughner understood the charges against him, she replied that they were "not raising that issue" at the time. She did not object to a request by prosecutors to have future hearings moved back to Tucson. On March 3, 2011, a federal grand jury indicted Loughner on additional charges of murder and attempted murder for a total of 49 counts. On March 9, 2011, Loughner pleaded not guilty to all 49 charges.
Relationship with lawyers On May 25, 2011, Judge Burns stated, "I got some letters declaring some conflict with his counsel ... I intend to table them at this time. At such a point that his competency is restored, if he wants to bring up the matter of counsel, he can renew it then." The judge suppressed the letters from the court record.
Medico-legal proceedings On May 25, 2011, Burns ruled Loughner was then incompetent to stand trial, based on two medical evaluations. Court proceedings were suspended while Loughner, who had been
diagnosed with
paranoid schizophrenia, Loughner disrupted the court hearing with an outburst, and was carried from the courtroom. According to
The New York Times, Loughner believed he succeeded in killing Giffords, and clashed with his lawyer when she informed him that the congresswoman had survived. He was judged still incompetent to stand trial following medical evaluations and a hearing in May 2011.
Forced medication rulings On June 26, 2011, Burns ruled that prison doctors could
forcibly medicate Loughner with
antipsychotic drugs in order to treat him to restore him to competency for trial, but on July 12, 2011, a three-judge federal appeals panel from the Ninth Circuit ruled that Loughner could refuse anti-psychotic medication, since he "has not been convicted of a crime, is presumptively innocent and is therefore entitled to greater constitutional protections than a convicted inmate." However, the ruling stated that it "does not preclude prison authorities from taking other measures to maintain the safety of prison personnel, other inmates and Loughner himself, including forced administration of tranquilizers". Loughner's defense team submitted an emergency motion to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, claiming that this treatment was in violation of their ruling and seeking an immediate injunction to halt treatment. Arguments began on August 30 as to the lawfulness of this treatment. In March 2012, a federal appeals court denied a request by Loughner's lawyers to halt his forced medication. On May 24, 2012, a federal judge ordered a competency hearing for June 27 (later postponed until August 7) to determine Loughner's mental fitness to stand trial. He remained at a federal prison hospital in Missouri pending the entry of his plea. A request by Loughner's lawyers to rehear arguments on forced medication was denied on June 5, 2012.
Guilty plea and sentencing On August 7, 2012, Judge Burns found Loughner competent to stand trial based on medical evaluations. Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 counts at the hearing, which spared him the death penalty. The hearing began with Loughner listening to testimony from Christina Pietz, Loughner's
forensic psychologist, who testified that he had displayed depressive symptoms in 2006 and was formally diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2011. Pietz said that she believed that, after having been forcibly medicated for more than a year, Loughner had expressed remorse and was a changed individual. She said that he was competent to stand trial and agree to a plea. Sentencing was set for November 15, 2012, at 10 a.m. local time. The sentence could not include the
death penalty, because the guilty plea bargain was made with an assurance that it would not be sought; Loughner under the law faced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired
NASA astronaut
Mark Kelly, U.S. Representative
Ron Barber, a former aide to Mrs. Giffords who was shot in the attack,
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and the
U.S. Attorney for Arizona,
John S. Leonardo, had all approved the plea. It was offered and accepted after consultation with them and with the families of the other victims. By pleading guilty in the deal, Loughner automatically waived his right to any further appeals and could not later alter his plea to an
insanity plea. Loughner must pay
restitution of $19 million, $1 million for each of the victims. He
forfeited the weapons he used in the incident, and
any money earned from efforts to sell his story. Loughner answered that he understood each charge, and signed his initials after each page of the agreement and signed his name to it, dated August 6. On November 8, 2012, Loughner appeared in front of
U.S. District Court Judge
Larry Alan Burns in a court in
Tucson. He was sentenced to serve seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison
without parole. Even though he was convicted and sentenced in federal court, there
was still a possibility that Loughner could be tried for murder and other crimes in
Arizona court. Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall declared later that afternoon that she would not prosecute Jared Loughner on behalf of the State of Arizona. LaWall explained that her decision would afford the victims and their families, as well as the community in Tucson and Pima County, an opportunity to move forward with their lives. She said that, after speaking and consulting personally with each of the surviving victims and with the family members of those killed, it was clear that they would not be benefitted by a State prosecution. Surviving victims and family members told LaWall that they are "completely satisfied with the federal prosecution", that "justice has been served", and that the federal sentence is "suitably severe". , Loughner is serving his life sentence at the
Federal Medical Center, Rochester,
Minnesota, a prison for inmates with specialized health issues. ==References==