A federal judge ruled Jared Lee Loughner mentally incompetent to stand trial in the Jan. 8 shooting spree that gravely wounded an Arizona congresswoman after two medical experts agreed he suffered from schizophrenia and for several years has been troubled by delusions and hallucinations.
Judge Larry A. Burns sent Loughner back to the federal medical center for prisoners in Springfield, Mo., for treatment and further evaluation, stopping for now any attempt to take him to trial for the shooting that killed six people and injured 12 others at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' neighborhood meeting.
Without any change in his condition, Loughner could spend the rest of his life in federal mental health facilities. But if he shows some signs of improvement, his case could go forward.
The ruling came after U.S. marshals removed Loughner from the courtroom Wednesday when he suddenly started screaming. His father, Randy Loughner, sat in the second row next to Loughner's mother and cried almost the entire time.
Court staff variously reported him saying "thank you for the free kill" or "free shot," and then, "she died in front of me," and "you're treasonous." A government source said Loughner is convinced he killed Giffords, and that "she died in front of me" apparently refers to that belief.
When asked later whether he could behave in court, Loughner told Burns that he would prefer to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television screen in a courtroom anteroom, where he remained for the rest of the hearing.
Too mentally unstable to sit in a court room, but NOT too mentally unstable to buy a Glock with an extended clip in Arizona.
How can ANYBODY read that and NOT believe that we need much, much, much stricter gun control laws in this country?
Gryphen, that picture wigs me out hardcore. I'd take 100 pics of Grifter Granny over that one of Jared.
ReplyDeleteYikes. I had to scroll down the page to avoid it. Just yikes.
On an NPR program, an expert said that it is almost impossible to get a gun in Mexico. However, most of the guns smuggled across the border into Mexico come from Arizona. Now how crazy is that?! Arizonians worry about drug, gang violence at the border, but their lax laws are providing the guns.
ReplyDeleteDumbass! Palin has found her true home.
Freak. We all know you loved Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your answer, Sarah? Ted? Arizona?
ReplyDeleteWatch it Gryph, NRA doesn't like to limit the right of everyone to bear arms and apparently use them. Guy should be given the same treatment but he'll sit in some cushy hospital cell for twenty years getting free internet and cable, three squares, healthcare and, WOW, that's not sounding all that bad right now
ReplyDeleteWhat we need in addition to gun laws is a better network of mental health care. If people knew how and where to report his psychotic and frightening behavior the shooting probably would not have happened. It was clear Loughner was psychotic and delusion from the start, they wasted all this time evaluating him? They could have been treating him. People can perform many functions and still be very psychotic and delusional. After all how hard is it to load, aim and pull the trigger of a gun? Many psychotic people have been serial killers. Schizophrenics are in no way responsible for their illness and need help insure they and others are safe. Most of them are not violent, but the small percentage who are need treatment.
ReplyDeleteMentally unfit? Sounds like a pbot to me! LOL!
ReplyDeleteDamn.
ReplyDeleteAnd some people think its a good idea to arm the whole damned world with no exceptions because that always works out just fine.
Nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green
ReplyDeleteOT: http://palingates.blogspot.com/2011/05/sarah-palin-we-have-few-questions-for.html
ReplyDeleteOh, perfect timing. Sarah, tweet how the media is manufacturing a blood libel and you're the tragic victim.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so different from what Loughner says in court and listening to a Palin speech or reading her own penned Tweets before RAM has a chance to proof read them?????? It's all uncontrolled nonsense!
ReplyDeleteNext person we need to hear from is the EXACT person who sold him that gun. Must be a receipt or something, right? No symptoms of emotional disorder that day? Background check? Waiting period?Doubt it. Gun show? you betcha!
ReplyDeleteI hope his diagnosis also means that he can be tried when his mental condition improves. He apparently had sufficient reasoning skills to amass his armory and stalk his prey so well. Witnessed crimes establish pretty much guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In this case, guilty. No longer fit to be a free man. Ever. Sorry. Mental facility or prison. Forever.
There is the issue of treatment for the mentally ill. There is the issue of gun control. Two separate issues. It used to be fairly easy to commit someone to a mental health facility; and that ease was abused. It is now harder to force someone into treatment, assuming one has the knowledge and the means to arrange a commitment. There are patient rights regarding forced medication. There are fewer facilities available, the treatment and the meds can be expensive. As for watching the proceedings from a different room, you don't really know what is going on in his mind, what sets him off, whether this was the decision of his attorney whose duty is to provide a fair defense regardless of the crime. Once again the stigma of and ignorance about mental illness rises to the top.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a very twisted world. Psychotics can buy guns and kill people then go to the hospital; and narcissistic sociopaths can run for president.
ReplyDelete$p's type.
ReplyDeleteWolfsister, ain't that the truth.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else said it yet? We are all thinking it. . .Sarah Palin is mentally incompetent to run her household, much less influence public discourse.
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin Is Worried Bristol’s “Shacking Up With Black Boys” Reality Show Is Going To Ruin Her Family Reputation
ReplyDeletehttp://bossip.com/388639/new-couple-bristol-palins-getting-her-swirl-y-shack-up-on-with-kyle-massey-and12006/#comment-2781179
Pretty good gossip - hope it is true. If so, I wish Bristol and Kyle a long and happy life. Their baby will be adorable.
He will never see the light of day, maybe for Gabby and the other victims it's better this way.
ReplyDeleteHinckley will never get out and neither will Loughner, in the end that is justice if there is a trial or not.
Did Loughner get the gun after he saw Rep Giffords on tv making the crosshairs sign
ReplyDeleteand expressing fears about being shot ?
Someone this mentally ill is unstable enough to have taken Giffords discussing Palin's crosshairs
as an inspiration
or a command.
David Berkowitz , The Son of Sam , claimed his neighbor's dog ordered him to kill.
Palin's crosshairs map may very well have been the motivation for Loughner ,
even if he wasn't attuned to politics.
All he had to do was watch television.
Gryphen, please put that picture "below the fold". Yikes, really scary and sickening, nearly as bad as the Morlock "trophy" kill picture.
ReplyDeleteThe answer may not be stricter gun control, bit in a single payer health care insurance program.
ReplyDeleteThe young man was clearly exhibiting the early warning signs of schizophrenia.
dz--
ReplyDeleteYep, he can be tried later. There's no statute of limitations for murder.
Sarah Palin is a champion for Jared Loughner. It's her mission to ensure that this lunatic and every other psycho in this country can own a gun even though they can never be held accountable for a crime they commit using that gun!! Good job Sarah, you are really doing work that would make God proud!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe in the Second Amendment because it was NEEDED at that time, and was NOT meant for how the world is now, "I" have a problem with a CERTAIN PERSON that shall not be named hanging out in HER new gaudy bunker like Bin Laden, calling out her minions to fever pitch because there's a Black man in the White House.
ReplyDeleteYou can't fix ugly, Your Heinous, no matter how you hike your skirts, plastic surgery yourself, lie about your pregnancy with Trig, or make movies to "remind" people how COOL you are. You are one pathetic excuse for a human being.
This is an area that I think the MSM is truly "lamestream." We have become inured to multiple murders by gunshots, and the media is complicit in not doing their part to educate the public.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a supporter of blanket gun control laws because I don't want to live in a police state, where only law enforcement can legally own guns. But it's ridiculous that automatic weapons with 30-rounds of ammo are legal. These guns are not used for self-defense or hunting. I've heard some media say in passing that Reagan would be dead if John Hinckley could have purchased what is now available to anyone with a pulse. But unless the media educates, people think that current laws are ones that have always been in place.
OT. Here's an Iowa article with an interview with an owner of movie theatres in 22 Iowa cities who has been approached by distributors of Sarah's film. Great quote from theater owner:
"Fridley said he personally finds Palin 'annoying.'"
http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/05/25/iowa-theater-owners-doubt-palin-movie-will-be-a-blockbuster-here/
Stricter gun laws would have prevented this tragedy. Someone hell-bent on destruction will find a way to obtain a gun. The store which sold Loughner the gun did so legally, Loughner had no criminal record precluding the purchase and no mental health record. Had he not been able to legally purchase a gun there are countless ways that he could have obtained one illegally and still perpetrated the crime. What shouldnt be available for purchase are assault rifles or multiple round clips.
ReplyDeleteWhat could have prevented this tragedy was to have placed him under court ordered treatment. Had the college and law enforcement followed through on the complaints and concerns they could have gotten him into the system and there is a great likelihood he would have been under court ordered treatment.
Sheesh
But if you are a RWNJ-
ReplyDelete"TUCSON — Television images of the chaotic scene after the Jan. 8 shootings here do not convince them. Neither do the funerals for the deceased, the scars of the wounded or the federal prosecution of the man accused of being the gunman.
Some conspiracy Web sites are claiming that the shootings that nearly killed Representative Gabrielle Giffords and did end the lives of a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and four others never actually took place. One particularly bizarre site, run by a Texas man, says it was all a government hoax that used actors."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/us/25tucson.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
"One shooting victim said he notified the F.B.I. recently after two men showed up at his Tucson home claiming to be investigators and saying they were trying to determine whether the shooting was a hoax. "
First you get shot, then the RWNJs come to 'investigate' the 'hoax'. SICK.
BTW. I'm aware that Reagan is dead now. I clumsily tried to say that he would have died from his wounds in 1981 had Hinckley been armed with the same type of weapon that Loughner had. My bad.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who was shot in the head by a long-term schizophrenic who didn't "want" to take his meds. It happened right here in Alaska 20 years ago. The man who shot him had been in and out of API numerous times prior to killing my friend in a psychotic episode. What he was doing owning guns is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, this type of thing happens all the time. We just don't hear about it when the victims aren't famous personalities.
This is what the NRA has done for us. Too bad our right to live doesn't rank right up there with their perceived "right" to own guns no matter what the danger to the rest of society.
I just can't wrap my mind around this, This mans father sat in court crying his eyse out, while the doctor's determined somehow, that his descent into "madness" began three years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe need health care coverage that includes mental illness and it's treatment, we need stricter gun laws. This man may be deranged, but I'm willing to bet he'll stay "mentally ill" for life rather than face the death penalty.
There are no words for the victims and their families. Nothing can give you your family members back, there's no guarantee the survivors will heal completly.
This makes me ill.
As a proud Canadian (on your side, Gryph, all the way!), I have to gloat yet again about how our strict gun control laws have pretty much left our country free from the mass murders which flourish in the US.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a house with guns used for hunting, and when I was 10 I could probably load and shoot a rifle better than Scarah... but we were taught to respect firearms.
Canada, to my recollection, has never allowed UNregistered handguns, so they are a rarity, but for those which are smuggled north from the US. Automatic and semi-automatic guns are banned outright (again, with my fuzzy recollection... I pay little attention, really.) But Canada has had a pretty good record of no mass killings, and very, very rare episodes of politicians being targeted.
I only wish the best for our American neighbours, that you can find some middle ground which will close all the loopholes for the nutjobs!
Andrea
OT, but Hannity showed the Trailer for the Undefeated on his show. I watched the trailer on a website, and it is terrible. It discusses Exxon the entire 90 seconds.
ReplyDeletePalin re-staffs up, a little
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0511/Palin_restaffs_up_a_little.html?showall
The mentally unfit diagnosis convinces me even more Sarah Palin shares the blame in this tragedy. When she talks about not retreating but reloading and puts up a map with crosshairs only a crazy person like Jared Loughner would take it literally. I really hope Gabby sues the hell out of that c***. http://sarahpalinhasaserpentsheart.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete6:01 Are you really going to blame Rep Giffords? GMAFB
ReplyDeleteThis whole mess falls squarely on that insufferable bitch palin. Even after Rep. Giffords asked the clown to remove that shit she refused.
Now that bitch (so sue me) has moved to her state to add salt to her yet to heal wounds.
It's weird how raygun got shot by a deranged man especially since he was responsible in closing mental institutions.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's just fine, just fucking fine. That's exactly what the rightwing nuts wanted because now they can easily say that he wasn't politically motivated.
ReplyDeletePolitically motivated by telescope sight crosshairs over the victim's district.
This has been the concerted effor right from the start and he's always been shown looking like a nut. But just put your hand up and cover his bald head and he turns into a normal looking young man.
Imagine that! a normal young man motivated to take out his political enemies! By the real mentally deficient person who should be serving time for her evil deeds.
sort of OT, but I also feel badly for Loughner's father sitting there in the courtroom. There is so much tragedy and loss in this sad chapter of violence.
ReplyDeleteTime for a new post, Gryphen. That picture is going to give me nightmares tonight. Have a heart.
ReplyDeleteI think it was the USED-to-be-funny Dennis Miller who said of such things as how the insanity defense is used, that we should honor it alright: by first putting a straight jacket on the bastard, THEN hanging him.
ReplyDeleteAgree w/you completely.
ReplyDeleteBut there's no regulation in the black market.
By the time Loughner was buying that gun, it was already too late. He clearly needed someone to get him mental help much sooner.
ReplyDeleteOnce someone is to the point where they're willing to shoot up a crowd, they can also detonate a bomb, release poison gas or do a dozen other things that will do just as much damage.
Instead of more gun control, what we need is more accessible mental health care.
They can't let him testify. Although in my state his doctor/patient files would not be private because it is court ordered. I'd really like to know WHO he is thanking, and I find it difficult to imagine that he didn't explain all this to the doctor who examined him.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the FOIA group in AZ?
In the days before the shooting, Loughner spent hours researching how to plead insanity and get away with it. And now, they are buying that he is insane?
ReplyDeleteWill Sarah get away with all her crimes with an insanity plea, too?
Not only more strict gun control. We need to address more openly and publicly the widespread disease of mental illness. It has long been swept under the carpet. It affects so many people and families. From depression to schizophrenia, everyone knows someone who has been affected, in some ways. The only time mental illness is publicly addressed is when a new drug for depression hits the market.
ReplyDelete