Lawyers: Loughner Sent to Missouri for Mental Exam

Arizona shooting suspect is accused of killing six and wounding 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

From left to right: Marana Unified School District, via Associated Press; Robert Blanco; Pima County Sheriff’s Office via the Arizona Republic, via Associated Press (Photo composite: The New York Times)

By Jacquis Billeaud

March 23, 2011

PHOENIX — The suspect in the January shooting rampage in Tucson has been transferred to a specialized facility in Missouri to undergo a court-ordered mental evaluation.

Lawyers for 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner say in a court filing that he was taken from Tucson to a federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday. …

Loughner will be given tests to determine if he understands the nature and consequences of the charges he faces and can assist in his defense [i.e., to determine if he is competent to stand trial].

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the Jan. 8 attack that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. …

The charges include murdering U.S. District Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, along with trying to assassinate Giffords. …

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Video

Inside the mind of Jared Lee Loughner (NBC “Today,” Jan. 11, 2011) — From wild, erratic posts on the Internet to altars in his backyard, acquaintances and classmates say they are not shocked by suspected gunman Jared Lee Loughner’s outburst of violence. NBC’s Mike Taibbi reports and criminal profiler Clint Van Zandt weighs in. (08:09)

Jared Loughner Ruled Incompetent to Stand Trial (May 25, 2011)

Jared Loughner’s Mental State (Jan. 13, 2011)

The Psychological Profile of Giffords Shooter Jared Loughner
(Jan. 10, 2011)

Gabrielle Giffords Assassination Attempt (Jan. 9, 2011)

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5/22/11 Update

Video

Tucson shooter might be unfit for trial (NBC Nightly News, May 22, 2011) — Court documents suggest that doctors appointed by Jared Loughner’s lawyers and prosecutors alike have concluded he’s mentally unfit to stand trial. NBC’s Pete Williams explains what will happen to Loughner if the judge finds him unfit. (01:58)

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ANTHRAX MAIL ATTACKS UPDATE

Medical Records Point to Doctor in Anthrax Attacks, Report Says

Bruce E. Ivins, a biodefense researcher, in 2003 at Fort Detrick, Md.
(Photo credit: Sam Yu / AP file)

By Pete Williams

Justice correspondent

March 23, 2011

WASHINGTON — Medical records of Dr. Bruce Ivins, blamed by the FBI for the deadly 2001 anthrax mail attacks, “support the Justice Department’s determination that he was responsible,” a panel of behavioral experts and psychiatrists contended in a newly released report.

“Dr. Ivins was psychologically disposed to undertake the mailings, his behavioral history demonstrated his potential for carrying them out, and he had the motivation and the means,” they said in a report made public Wednesday.

Letters containing powdered anthrax were sent to news organizations and two US senators in late 2001, infecting 22 people who received or handled them, five of whom died. Ivins, a civilian researcher at the US Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland, committed suicide in July 2008 as the FBI was preparing to accuse him of preparing and mailing the letters. He was never charged. …

Though many of his co-workers at the bioweapons lab in Maryland have disputed the FBI’s findings, the panel found that Ivins “cultivated a persona of benign eccentricity that masked his obsessions and criminal thoughts.”

Dr. Gregory Saathoff of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the panel’s chairman, said the medical records “document behavior he claimed he undertook and provide an indication of a strong component of revenge, including graphic plans to engage in violent behavior.” …

As for his motives, the report says he acted out of a desire for revenge against his critics, “a desperate need for personal validation,” and a hope that the response to the attacks would revive the government’s efforts to develop an anthrax vaccine — a program on which he was a key researcher.

The scientists and doctors who studied the records emphasized what they said was an obsession Ivins had with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, which began when a member of the sorority turned him down for a date while he was a graduate student. Shortly after the first anthrax letters were mailed, but before they were discovered, he wrote an e-mail to another KKG sister he had known as a student. In the e-mail, he referred to bio-warfare and anxiety.

“The e-mail would soon cast him in her eyes, he appears to have hoped, as a prophet and as a defender of the nation,” the report said. [Note: This is similar to the motivational profile found in arsonists who participate in fire-fighting efforts – a craving for prestige and the desire to be a hero.] …

Full story

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 23, 2010

Iraq-Afghanistan Casualties

One year ago today, I provided my weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Navy Special Warfare Chief Petty Officer Adam Lee Brown, 36, Hot Springs, Ark., died March 18, 2010 in  in a battle with militants in Afghanistan, where he was part of a special operations task force operating in various parts of the country. He was assigned to a Virginia Beach, Va.-area SEAL Team.

Brown enlisted in the Navy in 1998 and joined the SEALs in 2001. He earned a Bronze Star with combat “V.”

At his funeral in Hot Springs, Brown was remembered as an honorable, hard-working man, who died a warrior’s death. Family friend Darlene Hull described Brown as diligent, respectful, and proud to be an American. Others said he fought for the little guy.

Chief Petty Officer Adam Brown is survived by his wife, two children, and his parents.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — March 23, 2009

Al-Qaida-Linked Schools in Pakistan

Pakistani religious students memorize the Quran, in Darul-Uloom Madina religious school in Bahawalpur, southern Punjab, Pakistan on Friday, March 20, 2009. The school is run by al-Qaida linked terror network Jaish-e-Mohammed, which authorities say sends fighters to Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Khalid Tanveer / AP)

Two years ago today, on March 23, 2009, I reported that the al-Qaida-linked terror network, Jaish-e-Mohammed, ran schools for jihadi fighters in the heart of Pakistan, hundreds of miles from the Afghan border, amid reports that insurgent commanders and suicide bombers in the AfPak border region were increasingly coming from Punjab.