Jared Lee Loughner

Prison doctors are violating the rights of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner by forcibly medicating him with drugs more powerful than needed to control his outbursts, defense lawyers told a federal appeals court Tuesday. The three-judge panel weighing Loughner's plea for an end to the involuntary medication with anti-psychotic drugs appeared sensitive to the defendant's legal arguments that, as he hasn't been tried on the 49 felony counts against him, he should retain the right to decide what drugs go into his body.

TUCSON - City- or county-sponsored gun buybacks - often used in larger cities to entice people to give up their handguns - have become effectively pointless in Arizona with legislation signed by Gov. Jan Brewer. The bill prohibits cities and counties from destroying any guns that come into their possession; instead, the firearms must now be sold to federally licensed dealers. The law started out as a set of guidelines on how government agencies should handle property that was confiscated, used as evidence, or turned in to law enforcement agencies, with an eye toward generating money for strapped programs.

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner can be forced to take antipsychotic drugs while prison doctors try to make him sane enough to stand trial in the attack last year on then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. Loughner's violent behavior at a prison hospital in Missouri justified his forced medication, even though a pretrial detainee might normally have the right to refuse unwanted drugs, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling.

TUCSON -- Just hours before his arrest for shooting six people to death and wounding 13 others, Jared Lee Loughner had another brush with the law, breaking down and weeping in front of an officer who pulled him over. Among the information contained in thousands of pages of documents about the investigation is the story of Arizona Game and Fish Officer Alen Forney and his encounter with Loughner. Forney was interviewed by authorities the day after the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting that severely wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to previously sealed documents released this week by the Pima County Sheriff's Department.  Forney and Loughner were both driving through the northern part of Tucson about 7:30 a.m. Forney was heading to meet other officers in a different part of the state for some off-road enforcement; Loughner had just been to an area Wal-Mart, where a sporting goods clerk had refused to sell him 9-millimeter bullets.

Attorneys for the government and Jared Lee Loughner battled before a federal appeals court panel Tuesday over whether forcing antipsychotic drugs on the Tucson shooting defendant is legally justified and likely to restore his mental competency to stand trial on capital charges. In a complex debate citing the mere handful of similar cases in federal court archives, Assistant U.S. Atty. Christina M. Cabanillas told a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that prison doctors, not judges and lawyers, were in the best position to decide what medications are needed to make Loughner fit for trial.

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner can refuse anti-psychotic medication until his appeal of the treatment prescribed by prison doctors is decided, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Loughner, who has been deemed mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial in the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is in custody at a federal prison medical center in Missouri. Doctors there began treating him against his will with psychotropic drugs a month ago, prompting his lawyers to ask the courts to halt the forced medication that they said could irreparably harm or even kill the 22-year-old suspect.

Accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 49 felony counts, including murder and attempted murder, in connection with a January shooting rampage here that killed six people and wounded 13, including a congresswoman. Loughner, 22, smirked through much of Wednesday's proceedings, held at the same federal courthouse where one of those killed, U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, had worked. Loughner is accused of targeting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)

Jared Lee Loughner, accused of trying to assassinate Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will be tried first on federal charges, according to an agreement announced Friday by federal and state prosecutors. Loughner, 22, of Tucson, has been charged in a three-count federal indictment of shooting Giffords and killing two other federal employees in an attack last month outside a Tucson supermarket where Giffords was meeting with constituents. Six people were killed in the attack and 13 injured, including Giffords, who is recovering in a Texas rehabilitation center from gunshot wounds to the head.

New school, old woe Re "A new school — with no students," May 31 Finally, someone has designed the perfect school. The Alvord Unified School District in Riverside should be lauded for a brilliant idea. The new Hillcrest High School has no discipline or attendance problems. There are no problems with gangs, sex or drugs. There are no fights or hate crimes. The campus is immaculate, with no graffiti or lunch trash. There are enough books, desks and materials for all students enrolled.

A federal judge on Friday turned down media requests to release mug shots and search warrants in the case against Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner, accused of killing six people and wounding 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Loughner's attorney, Judy Clarke, asked that the mug shots be sealed, arguing that releasing them served no public interest. District Judge Larry A. Burns, assigned to hear the case, said he had no authority to order the release of the mug shots or to seal them.

TUCSON -- The mother of Jared Lee Loughner, the man who went on a shooting rampage that killed six and wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, said she took away his shotgun after school officials warned her about his increasingly odd and angry behavior, according to thousands of pages of records released Wednesday about the case. In an interview with Det. Mark O'Dell of the Pima County Sheriff's Department, Amy Loughner said her son had been acting strangely for about a year, often talking to himself, and was angry with the government, though she did not say why. She said her son was angry after having to withdraw from Pima Community College, after an incident in which he made comments about abortion that his fellow classmates and others found so disturbing that the campus police were called.

When Gabrielle Giffords confronted Jared Lee Loughner, the man who shot her on the head in a mass shooting in Tucson, the two just intensely stared at the other, her husband Mark Kelly said on Friday. “Gabby's eyes were locked on his the entire time as I read our statement. I kept looking up and his expression would change. He was paying attention to what we were saying,” Kelly, a retired astronaut, told NBC's "Today" Show. “He wasn't really happy at points, and I almost felt like during that whole few minutes that he and Gabby were having quite the staring contest.” On Thursday, Loughner, 24, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for wounding Giffords and 12 others and killing six people in a January 2011 shooting rampage in a grocery story parking lot. Giffords, then a member of Congress, had been holding a routine Saturday morning meet-and-greet event with constituents when Loughner approached her and opened fire.

Mark E. Kelly stared at the young man who, nearly two years ago, brought a gun to a Tucson plaza and shot Kelly's wife in the head and killed six other people. The attack left Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman, partially blind, unable to use her right arm and struggling to piece together sentences, Kelly told a federal judge Thursday during the gunman's sentencing. Jared Lee Loughner also wounded a dozen more outside a grocery store where Giffords had been shaking hands with constituents.

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner can be forcibly medicated with antipsychotic drugs, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals said prison authorities have the right to treat an inmate who would otherwise be a danger to himself or others around him. Loughner, 23, has been charged with 49 felony counts in the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting rampage outside of a Tucson supermarket in...

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner can be forced to take antipsychotic drugs while prison doctors try to make him sane enough to stand trial in the attack last year on then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. Loughner's violent behavior at a prison hospital in Missouri justified his forced medication, even though a pretrial detainee might normally have the right to refuse unwanted drugs, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling.

Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner, who is being held in a prison mental hospital, may soon be competent to stand trial for the rampage of 13 months ago, a federal judge said Monday in ordering another four months of anti-psychotic medication and therapy for him. Loughner has made "measurable progress" under treatment at the Missouri hospital but "is not there yet" in terms of being able to assist in his own defense, said U.S. District Judge...

Authorities at the Missouri prison mental hospital where Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner is detained have forced antipsychotic medication on the suspect despite an appeals court order last week, his attorneys complained in a court filing Thursday. Defense attorneys filed an emergency motion with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for enforcement of a July 12 order that Loughner not be medicated against his will with antipsychotic drugs that could harm him. The motion signed by Loughner's lead attorney, Judy Clarke of San Diego, also asked the court to compel the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to provide her with daily records of his treatment so that his defense team and the appeals court can monitor prison authorities' compliance with the order against involuntary medication.

A year ago, the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords weighed heavily in the House chamber. A seat with her delegation was left empty during the State of the Union address. Lawmakers wore black-and-white ribbons in her honor. On Tuesday night, Giffords returned to the House and a standing ovation more than a minute long amid cheers of "Bravo!" from her colleagues. Then she received a long, emotional hug from President Obama. Giffords rested her head on his shoulder and for a moment they rocked back and forth — all at once a welcome-home greeting and farewell embrace following her decision to step down from office and focus on her recovery.