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Jared Lee Loughner was arraigned today at the Federal Courthouse in Phoenix, AZ for one count of attempted assassination in the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, and two counts of attempted murder for shooting two of her staffers, Ron Barber and Pam Simon.
Loughner could be brought up on as many as six murder charges before all is said and done. He has two options: plead guilty on all of the charges brought against him, which would speed the trail along, or plead not guilty.
Loughner and his attorney — famed defense attorney Judy Clarke who represented the Unabomber — was expected to enter an insanity plea. If proven insane, Loughner may serve his sentence in a mental institution, but would be spared the death penalty.
The arraignment was over shortly after the judge had entered the room. Loughner pled not guilty; his defense team will likely argue mental instability, although this was not stated during the arraignment, nor is it required.
The prosecution said it will bring the remaining charges in 45 days or less.
Overall the proceedings were routine since defense attorney Clarke did not ask to postpone the arraignment in order to initiate mental competency hearings that would ultimately contribute to an insanity plea.
Sandhya Somashekhar tweeted the proceedings live from the courthouse in Phoenix, tweeting that Jared Lee Loughner stood calm in his prison-issued jumpsuit and smiled during the proceedings. He appeared to be unmoved by any of the charges brought against him today, and perhaps even by the consequences of his horrific actions.
49 Comments
Thanks.
Not surprised at the not guilty plea – it’s pretty much rote for a defendant to make that plea at arraignment.
Insanity is going to be an extremely hard defense to use given what’s been presented in the media as to his preparation for this crime. But it’s not impossible.
The next question is going to be where the change of venue will go, because it’s a certainty he can’t get a fair trial anywhere in Arizona.
Well a lot of people are just upset that it is being held in Pheonix and not in Tucsan, forcing the victims to travel 4 hours.
As for an insanity plea, the definition has shifted quite a bit from its original state in the McNaughten case of 1843. The federal court currently recognized the Hinckley rule, and in order to prove insanity the defendant must
” at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts. Mental disease or defect does not otherwise constitute a defense.”
Each state is different, some states have a guilty, but mentally ill (GBMI) decision, others have abolished the insanity plea. Arizona is not one of those states.
Why is Loughner always smiling? I find that really creepy.
At one time there was talk of holding the trial in San Diego, but I’m not sure if that discussion is still on the table. A “Not Guilty” plea is pretty standard no matter how many witnesses, etc.
Thanks for the update as we watch this story unfold.
I guess I’ll never get these innocent pleas from people who are caught red handed. Was it some other Jared Loughner?
That’s a sweet hat.
He reminds me of Woody Harrelson.
http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/news/dec08/woody.jpg
But Harrelson isn’t smiling.
“unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts”
This part of the definition has been interpreted to mean the same thing as the McNaughten test’s requirement that the defendant was not able to tell right from wrong and conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
So, it’s still basically the McNaughten test.
If Loughner pleads insanity, which I still do not expect him to do, the burden of proof will switch to him and he will have the burden of convincing the jury by clear and convincing evidence that he was insane at the time of the offense.
I’m with you. I don’t understand it at all. The only thing that would make sense to me is that this gives him some more time to negotiate his way out of the death penalty?
He was caught red handed, there’s video of him shooting at least 3 of the victims in frame, and he was detained at the scene. There’s no question here of whether or not it was him.
So it has to be some sort of maneuvering?
Thank you for the updates, Ryan.
I think it is also the basis for the insanity defense in this case.
Its simply the only thing he can do to keep himself from the possibility of a death penalty…we can now look forward to a two, if not more, year trial.
Nobody ever pleads guilty to a felony at an arraignment. The courts won’t even permit it, so no one should be surprised that he pled not guilty.
Guilty pleas take a lot of time. The judge has to review all of the defendant’s rights and the terms of a plea agreement, assuming there is one, with the defendant to make certain that the plea is voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently made. The plea can take 15-20 minutes, or more. Arraignment calendars usually involve many cases and many defendants, so guilty pleas are prohibited.
I noticed that several of you made some assumptions about the significance of a not-guilty plea. All of you are wrong. See my previous comment.
No assumptions can be drawn from a not-guilty plea at an arraignment.
Inappropriate affect is a symptom of mental illness; he’s not quite in the real world, IIRC.
There is little doubt that Loughner is batshit crazy, mad as meat-axe, more lunatic than loon…but one has to ask how sane is a society that allows access to semi-automatic weapons with munition clips that carry thirty rounds. I mean honestly. Do we have psychiatrists and psychologists managing gun stores in America who can assess someone mental state while buying a firing arm? I suppose it wouldn’t occur to society that someone could be stable when buying a firearm and then go over the edge once it’s in their possession?
I would be highly sceptical of the sanity of the majority of people preaching Second Amendment Remedies and I sure as hell wouldn’t want them armed.
That looks like a smile to me.
The defense has to file a motion for a change of venue asserting that the community is so prejudiced against Loughner that it will not be possible to seat a fair and impartial jury to decide his case. If such a motion is filed, and I expect the defense will do so, the Government will respond, and the judge will eventually issue a ruling. Don’t expect that anytime soon.
He’s not laughing in this photo. Of course, he was being summoned by Jim Morrison from the grave at the time.
http://cdn.babble.com/famecrawler/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/article-1345450-0CB129A6000005DC-523_306x423.jpg
Unlike Loughner, no teeth showing.
Ever knowingly been around a chronic bipolar or schizophrenic off their meds or un/mis-diagnosed? Inappropriate affect comes in many forms. A constant smile is only one. That is not to say that Loughner is mentally ill, however.
Loughner’s parents trained him to show his teeth when he smiled. Mickey Knox……well, let’s just say his parents didn’t take pictures.
I think it’s quite cruel for you to find all of this so funny…Joke to your heart’s delight; inappropriate and tacky, imho
After having lived and taught (history & US govt) on the Navajo Reservation in northeast AZ for almost 30 years, I retired to a small town in northwest New Mexico where I currently reside. Being single I probably spend too much time online. On the afternoon of the Tucson shooting I made two screen grabs that are very interesting. After JLL had been identified as the shooter I went to the AZ Sec of State website (where voter registration is made available to voters and clerks) and got a screen grab of JLL’s voter registration: he registered as a Republican! I downloaded and printed the grab and took it to a friend and asked him to corroborate it by visiting the AZ site. He was unable to do so because JLL’s voter information was no longer available to the general public.
Secondly, I made a screen grab at Jesse Kelly’s website – he was Giffords’ opponent in the Nov. election. Emblazoned across the site was the headline “Kelly places the crosshairs squarely on Rep. Giffords.” Later that evening I returned to the site to find that it had been scrubbed. The headline was related to an article upon which it was based and I discovered that the article hadn’t been removed so I downloaded that and printed it also. Kelly’s site has been completely scrubbed and all you’ll find there is a statement of condolence.
Why am I sharing this with you? Firstly, the meme that has been constructed since the shooting that JLL is a left-leaning pot-smoking individual conceivably could be somewhat false. Secondly, it is my belief that the toxic political environment that exists in southeastern AZ allowed an individual like JLL to flourish like a hothouse flower.
What I find pathetic is how people, like yourself, turn something like this into spectacle and attempt to exploit it. You jump on the sensationalized media bandwagon and wring events like this for all their worth. My humor is thumbing my nose at that. Sorry I couldn’t be more Bill Cosby-like for you.
Thanks for that. It needs to get out there. I remember reading about one of Jesse Kelly’s campaign functions where people were invited to shoot a fully automatic weapon. This sort of thing needs to be kept up front and not under the carpet.
I urge you to contact Judy Clarke at the Office of the Federal Defender in San Diego and tell her about your two screen grabs as they might potentially be helpful to her defense of Mr. Loughner.
I suspect the right wing hate machine has been doing everything within its considerable power to eliminate any evidence that Jared Loughner was a believer and influenced by their invective. I hate to say this because it’s a hell of an accusation to make, but I wouldn’t put it past the FBI to disappear such evidence, if they found it while searching Loughner’s residence.
I believe the Government probably does not want the defense to get hold of any evidence that Loughner was influenced to commit these horrific crimes by Sarah Palin and her target chart, Glen Beck and his advice to shoot Democrats in the head, Jesse Kelly and his placement of the cross-hairs squarely on Congresswoman Giffords, and the right wing hate machine. Such evidence would not be a defense to the charges, but coupled with a showing of mental illness, it certainly might mitigate the crimes enough to save Jared’s life.
It also would destroy Sarah Palin’s aspirations to be elected President and hopefully end Glen Beck’s and Jesse Kelly’s careers. There is a great deal at stake here that reaches far beyond the shootings in Tucson.
Please share your information with Judy. I know her personally. She is a wonderful human being and deserves all the help she can get to save this disturbed young man’s life.
You can reach her at:
Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc.
225 Broadway, Ste. 900
San Diego, CA 92101
Telephone: (619) 234-8467
Fax: (619) 687-2666
Email: contact@fdsdi.com
He is severely mentally ill and probably doesn’t fully comprehend what’s going on and what he faces.
I wouldn’t be surprised to discover that he’s psychotic and hearing voices.
The trial certainly won’t last that long, but the case probably won’t go to trial until more than a year from now, assuming the case goes to trial.
I still believe a plea to avoid the death penalty is a possibility.
See my diary dated January 20, 2011:
http://my.firedoglake.com/mason/2011/01/20/jared-loughner-mitigation-investigation-and-the-possibility-of-a-plea-bargain/
Sorry, but there is nothing funny about the shootings and what happened to people, including a very sick Jared Loughner. No one here sees this incident as worthy of a Bill Cosby moment. That you would apologize for not toning down your comment to be more Bill-Cosby-like demonstrates defensiveness, cluelessness, and uncalled for aggression when an apology is in order.
This is so true SD, I was going to comment on inappropriate affect but you said it well. Not sure if he is really grounded in reality…
Thanks, Mason…How tone deaf can one be to think this is a yuk-it-up event….really sickening. Jared is a human tragedy.
He’s a troll cruising the site hacking up hairballs hither, thither, and yawn. He calls them jokes, apparently.
Rather twisted little chap. Crying out for help, I daresay.
***Mod Note: Let’s keep to substantive arguments, not personal ones…***
Ryan, thank you for the update.
Excellent.
Mason, thank you for the info! I am seriously considering your suggestion. I am no lawyer but there could be a legal problem in authenticating my screen grab of JLL’s voter info: it might have been illegal for me to view it since I am not JLL. The screen grab of Jesse Kelly’s website can be corroborated because I discovered the day after the shooting that Josh Marshall at talkingpointsmemo.com retrieved the same image.
Speaking of toxic environment, at the moment of the shooting authorities on UofA’s campus were investigating the trashing (vandalism?) of the Mexican-American Studies Center.
If I was Ms. Clarke I would talk to Sheriff Dupnik who would be able to provide her with innumerable leads concerning the political atmosphere that existed in the Tucson area prior to the shooting. Thanks again!
You can authenticate what you saw and what you did and there are ways for defense computer experts to go to the Secretary of State’s website and verify what you saw. Your screen grab could serve as a basis to obtain a court order to examine the server.
Since the site was accessible to the public, I don’t see how you could have violated any laws.
Some people were scurrying around scrubbing websites and changing information, which may have been a crime, on a weekend when offices were supposedly closed.
I’m certainly suspicious and I suspect Judy will be too.
What I find pathetic is that some one who registered in just this last week somehow feels it’s your prerogative to dump on everything that FDL has accomplished in the last 6 years.
I’d suggest you learn more about this community before you continue your rants.
So let me get this straight. You consider yourself “leftists” and here you are attempting to censor satirical expression? Is this upside down world, or what?
What, pray tell, do you think the movie Natural Born Killers” was all about? Do you have the same reaction to it, and those who were involved in the production of it? Of course you don’t. Using your logic, was it not an insult to all those who have been murdered by such amoral characters over the years? Wasn’t it using such victims, in a general sense, gratuitously for entertainment and profit? Where’s the outrage?
Yes, Natural Born Killers was a satire. It was also fiction.
This is a reality and you should be able to tell the difference. The phrase “too soon” first comes to mind.
But of course, you do have the right to be (self moderating) all you wish. It just shows you for what you are.
No more than it shows what you are. I’ve seen everyone and their mother exploit this event for everything’s it’s worth, including pushing the gun control agenda. My comment to which all of you are referring is actually not in poor taste. It was a response to eCAHNomics about Loughner always smiling. I found a photo where he is clearly not smiling. So, once again, me finding humor in this, is not about the incident itself, which is tragic, but in the predictable response to it.
For example, Ryan says above that “we have a 2 year trial to look forward to.” Really? Do you think anyone’s going to be paying attention to this matter when it’s quickly replaced with the next sensationalized story and predictable kneejerk, my camp-your camp, reactions? It will be forgotten news.
If you take the humorous stabs the wrong way, that’s your problem. You’re making a strawman out of it to suit your own disingenuous purposes. I don’t think you really care all that much and I believe your concern is faux posturing….just as the President’s concern was, and John Boners was.
The allusion to Morrison is more telling than any of you cared to realize. When you’re strange, faces come out of the rain……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi14wDTxNw
A probably (at least) five year old picture of Loughner “not smiling” does nothing to explain or address how he is continually smiling today after killing six people and wounding at least fourteen others.
Do you find people getting shot humorous? Do you contest that it will most likely be a couple of years for this case to go through all the due process steps?
Yes there will be other stories that will push this off the front pages. Stories such as all the cops who have been shot and killed in the last five days.
I (and others) are taking the “humorous stabs the wrong way” because Guess What? They. Are. Not. Humorous.
So don’t give up your day job to try stand-up – you’ll be starving.
True, since it is not required nor necessary to give your defense. I do however think that this case will not start for a while and will go on for a lot longer. We have to remember and stay positive that Rep Gabby Gifford could come out of this and recover enough to testify as a witness against Laughner. If this is the case we would have to wait until she if fully recovered, then go from there.
Your concern is disingenuous, and you’re using it here to try to score yourself some points. You could care less about getting out of your comfortable little box. Since you don’t care to have a genuine discussion, and instead want to build strawmen and promptly tear your creation down, there’s no use further engaging on it. I clarified my position. Your position is also clear. You prefer to posture.
The reaction to this incident, and many others like it, deserves all the satirical stabs that can be mustered. It’s ripe for the picking, and I’m going to keep on picking.
So don’t give up your day job to try stand-up – you’ll be starving.
With humorless folks like yourself, that’s for sure.
The Caring Continum
Loughner’s right to a speedy trial and the various rules that apply to stop and restart the clock while motions are pending will dictate when this case goes to trial.
Representative Giffords’s testimony isn’t necessary to convict in this case and the timetable of her recovery isn’t a relevant legal factor.
I didn’t take that in consideration, but your right take precedent. However isn’t the process to prove mentally insane long and tedious?