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Suspect in Arizona shooting enters plea of innocent
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
This undated photo released by the Pima County Sheriff's Office shows shooting suspect Jared Loughner.
Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., takes part in a reenactment of her swearing-in, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with constituents, killing at least five people and wounding several others in a rampage that rattled the nation.
Associated Press
PHOENIX
The suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords smiled and nodded but didn’t speak as he appeared in court Monday and his lawyer provided the 22-year-old’s first response to the charges: a plea of not guilty.
In the two weeks since the deadly attack that killed six outside a Tucson grocery store, Jared Loughner’s hair — shaved in the mug shot that’s become an enduring image of the tragedy — has grown out slightly.
The Tucson resident wore an orange prison jumpsuit and glasses, and his wrists were cuffed to a chain around his waist as eight U.S. marshals kept watch in the packed Phoenix courtroom and gallery above.
Loughner faces federal charges of trying to assassinate Giffords and kill two of her aides. More charges are expected.
Investigators have said Loughner was mentally disturbed and his behavior was becoming increasingly erratic in the weeks leading up to the attack Jan. 8 that wounded 13.
If Loughner’s attorney uses mental-competency questions as a defense and is successful, Loughner could be sent to a mental-health facility instead of being sentenced to prison or death.
But his attorney, Judy Clarke, said she wasn’t raising issues of competency “at this time” after U.S. District Judge Larry Burns of San Diego asked whether there was any question about her client’s ability to understand the case against him.
Giffords was shot in the forehead and spent two weeks in a Tucson hospital before she was flown to Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Hospital on Friday.
Shortly after her arrival, doctors said she had been given a tube to drain a buildup of brain fluid that has kept her in intensive care.
Hospital spokesman James Campbell said Monday the next update on the Democratic congresswoman’s condition would come when they are ready to move Giffords to the rehab hospital.