No trial for Tuscon shooter

[whitehall]

A federal judge ruled the shooter is not mentally competent to stand trial.

 

[Sheldon]

Jared Lee Loughner: Loughner ruled incompetent to stand trial in Arizona shootings - latimes.com

After studying reports from two mental-health experts who examined the 22-year-old defendant, Judge Larry A. Burns stopped federal death-penalty proceedings against Loughner and sent him back to the federal medical center for prisoners in Springfield, Mo., for treatment and further evaluation.

Burns scheduled another hearing for Sept. 21 to see if Loughner's condition had improved enough for him to assist in his own defense.

The ruling also appears to put on hold any state trial against Loughner, as local authorities say they will not be able to try him until after he is either convicted or acquitted in federal court.

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[AllieBaba]

He's a true lunatic, I think everybody agrees. His college, both teachers, mental health and students, were petrified of him and had him removed from the campus. They even contacted the ATF because they were so worried he might have firearms.

I think the people who screwed up here were his parents. He should have been institutionalized long before it reached this point. The guy scared the neighbors' KIDS for cryin out loud. When you have a kid that you are half assed scared of, and who is terrorizing random children, it's time to take your head out of the sand and see about having him committed.

 

[waltky]

Loughner likely to stand trial...

Loughner likely to stand trial eventually
14 June`11 - Jared Loughner, accused of killing six people and wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others at a supermarket near Tucson, will spend the next four months at a prison psychiatric hospital where doctors will attempt what they do with thousands of defendants each year: get him well enough to face the charges in court.

Chances are doctors eventually will be able to get the symptoms of his newly diagnosed schizophrenia under control, and a judge will find him competent to stand trial. "It's a fairly routine part of criminal justice," says Richard Bonnie, director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He says 60,000 to 80,000 defendants in state and federal criminal courts are evaluated for mental competence each year.

Of those, judges find 15,000 to 20,000 defendants too mentally ill or disabled to face the charges against them, Bonnie estimates. They are sent to prison psychiatric facilities for treatment intended to make them competent to stand trial. About 85% of mentally ill defendants become well enough to return to court, Bonnie says.

"It's a pretty rare scenario that someone stays incompetent and never faces their charges," says Daniel Murrie, a forensic psychologist and professor of psychiatry at University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Steps leading to a grim day in Arizona