Trial for Loughner not likely this year
Shooting suspect is being medicated
PHOENIX – The mentally ill man charged in the Tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others isn’t expected to go to trial in 2012 as he continues to be forcibly medicated to make him psychologically fit to stand trial.
The case was put on hold indefinitely when psychologists diagnosed suspect Jared Lee Loughner with schizophrenia and a federal judge ruled the 23-year-old wasn’t fit to stand trial in the shooting that occurred a year ago Sunday.
Loughner is being treated at a Missouri prison facility, where he has been forcibly medicated for more than five months with psychotropic drugs. Even though psychologists say his condition is improving, his lawyers have vigorously fought the government’s efforts to medicate him.
Mike Black, a former federal defender who is now in private practice as a criminal defense attorney in Phoenix, believes it would take Loughner’s lawyer a long time to prepare for a trial, if he is ever declared mentally fit.
“If he was restored to competency tomorrow, I don’t think there would be a trial until 2013,” Black said.
James Cohen, who teaches psychology in criminal law at Fordham University, believes the end result for Loughner will be the same regardless of whether he goes to trial.
“He will be confined for the rest of his life,” Cohen said.
He believes Loughner’s attorneys oppose forced medication because they want him to act bizarrely at trial. It will be hard for a jury to see the depth of Loughner’s psychological troubles if he is placid in the courtroom and appears to be cooperating with his attorneys, Cohen said.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 federal charges stemming from the shooting.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns has ruled Loughner can eventually be made mentally fit to stand trial. His current stay at the Missouri facility is set to end on Feb. 8 but could be extended.
Loughner, whose mental health declined in the two or three years before the shooting, has demonstrated bizarre behavior since his arrest.
He was removed from a May 25 court hearing when he lowered his head to within inches of the courtroom table then lifted his head and began a loud and angry rant. “Thank you for the free kill. She died in front of me. Your cheesiness,” Loughner said before U.S. marshals whisked him out of the courtroom.