JARED LEE Loughner was arraigned in federal court in Phoenix yesterday, two days after he shot 20 people, six fatally.
Loughner (22), entered the court manacled and shackled, with a shaved head and wearing a tan prison uniform. His skin looked bruised, possibly from the scuffle with bystanders who tackled him during his shooting spree on Saturday. Out of fear for Loughner’s safety, the accused was brought to court through an underground passage. Some 15 armed federal marshals were present in the courtroom.
Loughner was nervous at first, but calm and coherent. He looked at the ceiling and at the judge, but not at the courtroom. Judge Lawrence Anderson read the charges, starting with the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Each time Loughner was asked whether he understood the charges, he firmly responded “Yes”.
None of Loughner’s family or friends attended the hearing. He sat beside Judy Clarke, his court-appointed attorney, and nodded when she whispered to him. Ms Clarke defended the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and Zacarias Moussawi, who conspired with al-Qaeda in the 9/11 atrocities. In both cases, Ms Clarke won sentences of life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Loughner could face execution for Saturday’s rampage.
He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress and two other counts of attempted murder.
Attacks on federal officials are considered federal crimes. When reading the charges, judge Anderson paused dramatically after the name of his slain colleague, Arizona’s chief district judge, John Roll.
The killing and wounding of other victims are state crimes, for which charges will be filed separately in Tucson. Loughner will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing on January 24th. Investigators found an envelope with Ms Giffords’ name, along with the words “I planned ahead” and “my assassination” in a safe in Loughner’s home.
The safe also contained a letter to “Jared Loughney (sic)”, signed by Ms Giffords, in which she thanked him for attending a rally at a mall in Tucson in August 2007. Dr Michael Lemole, the chief of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center said yesterday that Ms Giffords’ condition has stabilised, but that swelling of the brain was still a danger.
The US army refused to accept Loughner in December 2008 because of drug use. Former classmates at Pima Community College said they feared Loughner. “I was afraid of him bringing a weapon into class,” said Ben McGahee, who taught algebra to Loughner. “I was not too surprised that he committed such an act.” The killings have sparked a debate about the effect of political discourse in the US. On the night before she was shot, Ms Giffords wrote to the Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, a Republican, to congratulate him on being appointed to a post at Harvard.
“After you get settled, I would love to talk about what we can do to promote centrism and moderation,” Ms Giffords wrote in the email, provided to CNN by Grayson.
“I am one of only 12 Dems left in a GOP district [the only woman] and think that we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down.”