Insanity defense harder now than for Hinckley

Insanity defense harder now than for Hinckley
In an earlier time, the deeply troubled past of Jared Loughner might have led his lawyers to mount an insanity defense. But that would be harder now, because Congress raised the bar for that claim after a jury found John Hinckley innocent by reason of insanity for shooting President Ronald Reagan. And the federal system is not alone in posing high hurdles to insanity defenses. State officials plan to charge Loughner as well, and Arizona law does not allow a verdict of Not Guilty by reason of ins...

Insanity defense harder now than for Hinckley
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an earlier time, the deeply troubled past of Jared Loughner might have led his lawyers to mount an insanity defense. But that would be harder now, because Congress raised the bar for that claim after a jury found John Hinckley innocent by reason of insanity for shooting President Ronald Reagan. And the federal system is not alone in posing high hurdles to insanity defenses. State officials plan to charge Loughner as well, and Arizona law does not allow a verdict of not...

Insanity Defense Harder Now Than for It Was for Reagans Would-Be Assassin
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 By Mark Sherman, Associated Press This Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011 photo released by the Pima County Sheriff's Office shows shooting suspect Jared Loughner. (AP Photo/Pima County Sheriff's Dept. via The Arizona Republic) Washington (AP) - In an earlier time, the deeply troubled past of Jared Loughner might have led his lawyers to mount an insanity defense. But that would be harder now, because Congress raised the bar for that claim after a jury found John Hinc...

Judy Clarke: Jared Loughner's 'Amazing' Attorney
She counseled Ted Kaczynski 13 years ago this month when the Unabomber was toying with the government in advance of his Guilty Plea. She helped an unrepentant Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber, avoid a death sentence. She was present and accountable during the chaotic trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother who drowned her two small Children in a car in a lake. She even represented Zacarias Moussaoui, the mercurial Al-Qaeda conspirator. All of those defendants faced capital ch...

Arizona officials reveal disturbing details about suspect in massacre
Doctor: No change in Rep. Giffords condition Ariz. survivor: 'It was like a bad crime drama' TUCSON — Investigators revealed more disturbing details Tuesday about the events leading up to the Assassination attempt against U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, including a menacing handwritten note in the suspect's home with the words "Die, bitch." Just before Saturday's shooting, a mumbling Jared Loughner ran into the desert near his home after his father asked him why he was removing a black bag ...

Suspect's parents: We care about victims, their families
TUCSON — The parents of Jared Loughner issued a sorrowful public Apology as Arizona prepared to pay tribute to the dead and wounded. President Obama will speak at the memorial service at 6 p.m. MT Wednesday at the University of Arizona sports arena. Since Loughner's arrest moments after the shooting Saturday of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and 19 other people, his parents have stayed inside their modest suburban home. They are distraught, crying and unwilling to leave, according to n...

Arizona suspect wrote 'die bitch' on Giffords note
Jared Loughner, accused of shooting US politician Gabrielle Giffords in an attack that killed six people and wounded 14, wrote "die bitch" and "die cops" on a letter he received from the lawmaker in 2007, officials said. The note was found by FBI investigators searching the Tucson home of Loughner and his parents, Captain Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department said. Ms Giffords, who authorities have said was the target of the Shooting Spree in Tucson, Arizona, at the weekend remains...

The Tucson Tragedy's True Lesson
Now that someone with Mental Illness has shot one of Washington's own, maybe Congress will start to pay attention to its abysmal failure to provide care for the most seriously mentally-ill Americans. We'll see. Lawmakers took a brief lunge in that direction after mentally-ill John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan in 1981, and an even smaller step in 1988 when Russel Weston, another mentally-ill man, entered the Capitol and shot two police officers. But most mentally-ill people are not violent -- and ...

APNewsBreak: More warning signs on day of shooting
Source: AP By AMANDA LEE MYERS and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press – 28 mins ago TUCSON, Ariz. – Investigators revealed more disturbing details about the events leading up to the Assassination attempt against U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, including a menacing handwritten note in the suspect's home with the words "Die, bitch." And on the day of the shooting, a mumbling Jared Loughner ran into the desert near his home after his father asked him why he was removing a black bag from the trunk of ..

Blame gunman, not rhetoric
On Feb. 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara, delusional and a loner, fired his .32-caliber pistol at FDR in the Bayfront Park area of Miami. Five feet tall, Zangara could not aim over the crowd. So, he stood on a folding chair and was piled on after the first of five shots. He wounded four people, including Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago. In two weeks, Zangara, who pled guilty, had been sentenced to 80 years. When Cermak died on March 6, Zangara was retried for Murder and sentenced to the Electric Chair, ...

Insanity Defense Difficult for Loughner
Jared Loughner's mugshot. (CBS) (AP) WASHINGTON - In an earlier time, the emerging portrait of a deeply troubled young man might have given Jared Loughner's lawyers the basis of an insanity defense. But John Hinckley's successful insanity claim after shooting President Ronald Reagan led Congress to raise the bar, making the task harder. The Justice Department has not said whether it will seek the death penalty against Loughner, the suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the dea...

Insanity defense difficult for shooting suspect
(01-10) 16:03 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- In an earlier time, the emerging portrait of a deeply troubled young man might have given Jared Loughner's lawyers the basis of an insanity defense. But John Hinckley's successful insanity claim after shooting President Ronald Reagan led Congress to raise the bar, making the task harder. The Justice Department has not said whether it will seek the death penalty against Loughner, the suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the Deaths of a ...

Lawmakers ban picketing near Tucson funerals
(01-11) 18:50 PST PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona legislators quickly approved emergency Legislation Tuesday to head off picketing by a Topeka, Kan., church near the Funeral service for a 9-year-old girl who was killed in the Tucson shootings. Unanimous votes by the House and Senate sent the bill to Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed it Tuesday evening. It took effect immediately. The bill "will assure that the Victims of Saturday's tragic shooting in Tucson will be laid to rest in peace with the full dignit...

6 killed in Tucson remembered at mass
TUCSON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Christina Green and those who died with her were remembered Tuesday in a memorial mass at the Tucson church where the 9-year-old had her first communion. Bishop Gerald Kicanas gave the homily at St. Odilia Roman Catholic Church, the Arizona Star reported. The service was called a Mass for the Healing of Our Community, and the church, which holds about 700, was packed -- with more people watching a TV feed in the parish hall. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has been charged with ...

Monica Yant Kinney: Arizona tragedy becomes grist for political mills
Hours after a troubled 22-year-old massacred six people and wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 13 others in a Tucson, Ariz., Parking Lot, my in box began filling up with unsolicited missives from officials and interest groups miles from the crime scene. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence wanted to make sure I knew that "we have too few laws to protect our families and communities from this kind of bloodshed, and the laws we do have are riddled with too many Loopholes." Ce...

Insanity plea in Arizona shootings may be hard to make stick
The disturbing photograph of Jared Loughner that has been released after his arrest, as well as the writings and statements attributed to him, seem to point to a man with delusional thinking and Mental Illness. Even if that is found to be true, the attorneys for Loughner, the 22-year-old College Dropout who has been charged in the Tucson shootings, may find it difficult to mount a successful insanity defense. The rules regarding such a legal strategy were tightened over the years in the wake o...

On Jared Loughner and a Possible Insanity Defense
Yahoo! Buzz It’s too soon to know, of course, whether Jared Loughner will invoke an insanity defense during his trial. But press accounts have noted behavior that seems strange, if not downright insane. Case in point: His rather incoherent rantings about the evils of America’s currency and grammatical structure. Still, it won’t be easy for him to establish that he is legally insane. Here’s an article in the Examiner.com that analyzes a possible Loughner insanity defense; ...

FBI Launches 'Bureau Special' to Probe Shooting
Hundreds of FBI agents are working on an investigation aimed at understanding why a former community College Student, with no history of violence, went on a shooting rampage outside a Tucson, Ariz., Supermarket last weekend. The suspect, Jared Loughner, 22, allegedly killed six people, gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and injured 13 others as he opened fire during a political event at a local shopping center on Saturday morning. Inside the FBI, the investigation is known as a "Bure...

Obama to be nation's consoler at memorial service (AP)
WASHINGTON – Searching for unity out of tragedy, President Barack Obama will honor the Victims of the Arizona Mass Shooting in personal terms and remind those in grief that an entire nation is with them. The president is again stepping into his role as national consoler, a test of leadership that comes with the job. His mission at Wednesday's memorial is to uplift and rally, not to examine political Incivility. Set to speak during an evening gathering in Tucson, Ariz., Obama will remembe...

Should We Shut Down Debate About Arizona Rampage? A Tucson Paper Says "No"
Hyper-defensive conservative talk-radio and talk-television hosts are attacking anyone who tries to suggests that angry political Rhetoric, weak Gun Laws or inadequate programs to address Mental Illness might offer an explanation for the Tucson shooting rampage that left Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords wounded and six Arizonans dead. They are even condemning the local sheriff for daring to offer his perspective -- as a lawman with more than five decades of experience -- on how Arizona's toxic p...

Obama to Arizona as shot lawmaker fights for life (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will lead Americans in national mourning Wednesday after an Arizona shooting tragedy unleashed a polarizing national debate about the violent Rhetoric rocking US politics. Obama will fly to the southwestern state to lead a tribute service for the six people who were killed and the 14 wounded in the Assassination attempt on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is fighting for her life in a Hospital. His trip will take place after the family of th...

In Arizona, Obama to honor memories, speak of hope
(01-11) 20:15 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under high expectations to provide healing, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will try to convert the horror of the Arizona shootings into a moment of national unity, centering his memorial Speech in Tucson on the lives of the Victims and the heroism of those who rushed to stop the madness. The president was crafting his Speech on Tuesday, and his aides were reluctant to discuss it even broadly in its unfinished form, other than to say it will emphasize t...

Alleged gunmans family breaks silence
Stumble This! The US lawmaker shot in the head in an attack killing six in Tucson can now breathe unaided, doctors said Tuesday as the gunman's family broke their silence to say they were "so very sorry." Surgeons gave an upbeat outlook for Representative Gabrielle Giffords' condition, as President Barack Obama prepared to travel to Arizona and a harrowing account emerged about the youngest Victim in Saturday's Shooting Spree. "She's holding her own," said Mic...

Kwame Kilpatrick, dad, others plead not guilty
But two of the five guests at Monday's arraignment did not join in. While Kwame Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick and contractor Bobby Ferguson shared smiles, hugs and conversation at one defense table in U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds' courtroom, longtime Kilpatrick friend and former aide Derrick Miller and former Detroit water department boss Victor Mercado sat at another with stone faces and eyes forward. There was, after all, little to c...

Penalty decision in double murder now goes to Phila. jury
A Common Pleas Court jury was to begin deliberations Wednesday about whether two Tacony men should be executed or spend life in Prison without Parole in a 2007 racially tinged double Murder. The families of Gerald Drummond and Robert McDowell and Victims Damien Holloway and Timmy Clark spent an emotional afternoon Tuesday listening to closing arguments from prosecution and Defense Lawyers. On Dec. 20, the jury found McDowell, 28, and Drummond, 26, guilty of first-degree murder in the July 13, 2...