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Lawyers want Loughner mental exam to be stopped

Mar. 23, 2011 11:53 AM

Associated Press

Defense lawyers want a federal judge to reconsider his order requiring the suspect in the Tucson-area shooting rampage that injured a congresswoman to undergo a mental examination in Missouri.

Attorneys for Jared Lee Loughner asked in court documents filed late Tuesday that the order by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns be put on hold while they appeal the issue to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Burns issued the order Monday requiring the mental exam to be done at a federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Springfield, Mo., and a videotape of the session to be provided to prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Burns also wrote that Loughner's attorneys can seek a separate competency exam by an independent psychiatrist.

Defense lawyers contend a mental exam could cause irreparable harm to their client's rights while the matter is reviewed by the courts.

"Mr. Loughner would be transferred 1,500 miles away from his attorneys to be subjected to competency evaluations conducted in an unlawful manner, and confidential material to which the government has no right would be revealed to the prosecution," wrote Judy Clarke, Loughner's lead attorney.

Clarke also asked the judge to reconsider the transfer of Loughner to Missouri and the restrictions he imposed on a possible independent exam.

She wants a court-appointed examiner to do the evaluation of Loughner at the federal penitentiary in Tucson, where he has been held.

Robbie Sherwood, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona, which is prosecuting Loughner, declined to comment on the defense move.

Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges stemming from the Jan. 8 attack that killed six people 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.

In a separate court filing, Burns granted a request by prosecutors to prevent the Pima County Sheriff's Office from releasing records of the probe to the Washington Post. The sheriff's office joined the FBI in investigating the shooting.

Burns wrote that Loughner's right to a fair trial outweighs whatever disclosures might be authorized under state public records law.

Such a release of records would intensify publicity in a case that has already received heavy coverage, Burns wrote.

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Judge imposes protective order on Loughner records

by Michael Kiefer - Mar. 23, 2011 01:40 PM

The Arizona Republic

The judge in the case against accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner has imposed a protective order on investigative records related to the Jan. 8 attack that left six dead and 13 wounded.

The documents were requested under Arizona's public records laws by The Washington Post, and federal prosecutors asked the court to prevent the Pima County Sheriff's Office from releasing them.

U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns wrote in an order posted Wednesday that he felt compelled to seal the documents because Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik "is apparently unwilling to take a stand and be sued, despite his lawyer's advice that it would be righteous to deny public access to the investigatory materials under the circumstances of this case." [ So I guess Federal Judge Larry A. Burns is saying f*ck the Arizona public records law! ]

According to the order, "The Sheriff's inventory of responsive materials includes: 250 audio recordings of witness interviews; 1,630 pages of transcriptions of these interviews; 403 pages of PCSO reports; 100-200 crime scene photographs; 241 pages of evidence control forms; 63 pages of computer-assisted dispatch reports; 7 pages of property release forms; 13 pages of notes; and 5 pages of tow truck requests."

Arizona public records laws are less restrictive than federal counterparts. Anticipating that Dupnik could comply with The Post's broad request under state law, prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office asked Burns to step in and stop the release.

Burns noted in his order that the investigation was a joint venture of Pima County and federal law enforcement, and therefore subject to federal law as well.

While Jared Lee Loughner may have been a "troubled person" from what I read in this article it doesn't seem like he was a threat to society.

If you ask me it sounds like the folks at the Pima County Community College system were railroading him because he was "weird".

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Emails document outbursts by Ariz. shooting suspect, efforts by college to confront him

JACQUES BILLEAUD, TERRY TANG Associated Press

3:36 a.m. CDT, May 20, 2011

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona college complied with a court order and released numerous emails about the Tucson shooting rampage suspect, painting a picture of a struggling student with emotional problems who disturbed others with his strange behavior.

At one point, a Pima Community College police officer wanted to expel Jared Lee Loughner after he caused an outburst in a math class in June 2010, but a dean said she wasn't ready to do so and expressed concerns about Loughner's due-process rights, according to one of the notes.

The emails released Thursday document several outbursts by Loughner while at the college and efforts by school officials to confront his unusual behavior.

The school was ordered to release 250 emails after The Arizona Republic sued it for withholding documents mentioning Loughner and a judge rejected the school's argument that the records were protected by a federal privacy law.

Three months before the shooting rampage, campus police asked federal firearms agents to see whether they had any firearms information on Loughner, but the check turned up nothing, according to the emails.

The apparent final straw was a Sept. 23, 2010, disturbance by Loughner. Campus police records say a teacher asked an officer to meet her outside her classroom to deal with Loughner because he was "being verbal disruptive." They do not elaborate on what Loughner allegedly did.

Six days later, officers went to Loughner's home to serve an immediate suspension notice. He was told to get a mental health evaluation or not return.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges stemming from the Jan. 8 shooting at a meet-and-greet political event. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others were wounded in the attack, and six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.

Emails sent in the days following the Jan. 8 shooting show school officials wondering if they did enough.

Former college counselor Cecilia Alter said in a Jan. 13 email that she was reflecting on the way students like Loughner were handled, and questioned if there was anything more they could have done. Based on legal advice and the "limited" resources available to the school, Alter said, "I keep coming back to the conclusion that we did the best we could."

But at least one college official thought the school could have done more.

Mark Dworschak, the director of contracts and risk management at the college, said in a Jan. 13 email that he disagreed with another official that responsibility falls to the student to seek psychiatric care, not the college.

"Arizona has one of the most lenient criteria for a commitment procedure which, having read the police reports, should have been initiated," Dworschak wrote. "You don't dump them as (another official) suggests."

Loughner began attending Pima Community College in 2005. The school's emails show him becoming increasingly disruptive in the summer and fall of 2010.

A student complained to a writing teacher in February 2010 about Loughner putting a knife on his desk. The complaint was made nearly 11 months before the shooting spree.

The teacher then emailed a school official, saying he didn't see the knife but noting that another student had a similar complaint.

"I think we ought to have another conversation with Jared to try to get to the bottom of this, and really at this point, I'd like to do everything that we can to have him removed from the class," teacher Steven Salmoni wrote. "I think his presence alone is interfering with the kind of environment that I'm trying to foster in this course."

In related emails, a dean said the matter needed quick attention, while another school official wrote that campus police were looking into Loughner's background.

Loughner drew the attention of college officials again when he caused a disturbance in a math class on June 1, 2010. The teacher said Loughner appeared to be under the influence of drugs. The next day, counselor DeLisa Siddall met with Loughner.

Loughner told Siddall he felt he was being "scammed" in class and was scared that his freedom-of-speech rights were being jeopardized.

The counselor asked Loughner about the questions he asked during the disturbance. "He said, 'My instructor said he called a number 6 and said I call it 18.' He also asked the instructor to explain, 'How can you deny math instead of accept it.'"

Loughner told Siddall he wanted to remain in the class and would stop asking the teacher questions. He also showed proof he was doing the assignments. Siddall says in an email to the math teacher and others that because Loughner said he would remain silent, she had no grounds to remove him.

He returned to the class after their meeting without incident. But the following day, he exhibited intimidating behavior including staring at the teacher and some classmates with an "evil" smile and laughing inappropriately at a remark the instructor made, according to the documents.

Pima Community College Dean Patricia Houston said in an email that a campus police officer wanted to expel Loughner, but Houston said she wasn't ready to do that and more investigation was needed.

"It is a matter of balancing the disruptive student's right to due process with the rights of the other students in the class," Houston wrote.

Houston and other administrators decided to let Loughner return to class but to take him aside and talk to him again. But this time, they planned to have an officer nearby.

Two days after Loughner was served with a suspension notice, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a one-sentence email to a campus police officer saying the federal agency didn't find any information on Loughner involving firearms.

Days before, the campus officer had told the ATF agent that Loughner was a "person of interest" and cited his past disruptive behavior.

Loughner was returned to a federal prison facility in Tucson last month after spending five weeks at a Bureau of Prisons facility in Missouri, where he underwent mental exams. A mental competency hearing is scheduled for May 25. Loughner's lawyers have described their client in court documents as a "gravely mentally ill man."

While Jared Lee Loughner may have been a "troubled person" from what I read in this article it doesn't seem like he was a threat to society.

If you ask me it sounds like the folks at the Pima County Community College system wanted to railroad him because he was "weird".

"Officials acknowledged in e-mails that Loughner's outbursts in class left students and teachers fearful but stressed that he never made any overt threats."

Of course the purpose of the Constitution and Bill of Rights is to protect "weird" people from being discriminated by the government because of their "weird" views.

Source

E-mails detail college's struggle with Loughner

Officials felt a need to balance his rights with others' growing fears

by Robert Anglen and Dennis Wagner - May. 20, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

For more than a year, officials with Pima Community College tried to balance their growing concerns over Jared Loughner's behavior with his due-process rights.

And as reports stacked up about the man later accused of killing six and wounding 13 in a shooting rampage near Tucson, administrators appeared unsure of what actions to take.

E-mails obtained Thursday as part of a lawsuit by The Arizona Republic against the college show that in the months leading up to Loughner's suspension, instructors wanted to remove him from class and campus police wanted to expel him from school. Administrators, concerned about violating his rights or treating him unfairly, wanted more time to investigate.

Officials acknowledged in e-mails that Loughner's outbursts in class left students and teachers fearful but stressed that he never made any overt threats. That created a quandary about how best to deal with a student to whom some referred as "dark," "creepy," "strange," "bizarre" and "psycho."

Although administrators ultimately did suspend Loughner, the e-mails raise questions about how far colleges and other schools should go in reacting to disruptive students and at what point officials should take serious steps.

The e-mails don't indicate whether Pima officials sought to evaluate Loughner's mental state, force him to undergo a psychological examination or commit him involuntarily to a hospital.

He was suspended in September.

The college said Thursday that it dealt with Loughner properly.

"Regarding Jared Loughner, the college responded reasonably and responsibly, based on the information it had at the time," Assistant Vice Chancellor A. Rachelle Howell said in an e-mail.

Gary Pavela, an attorney and consultant on student mental-health issues who teaches at the University of Maryland, said campuses across the country developed threat-assessment teams in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. "If there is a pattern of behavior when the student is disruptive and being warned, the best practice is not to tolerate the behavior," Pavela said.

In a case like Loughner's, with repeated disruptions and many concerns, Pavela said, suspension is warranted along with an offer of mental-health services and specific requirements to come back to school.

Pavela said it appears Pima Community College followed those steps, and he declined to judge the college's actions from afar. However, he said in an e-mail: "Suspending a high-risk student pending evaluation is not a sufficient response. If violence is a genuine risk, it may be triggered by the suspension itself."

Administrators suspended Loughner about three months before the Jan. 8 shooting at a constituent event for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The congresswoman was wounded in the attack with a shot to the head.

Administrators told Loughner he could not return to campus unless he obtained a waiver from a mental-health examiner showing he was not a danger to himself or others.

But e-mails show that school officials remained concerned about Loughner. After suspending him, they contacted the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to find out if he owned a gun and the Arizona Department of Public Safety for his driver's-license photo to distribute to campus staff.

The e-mails are among 255 that a Pima County Superior Court judge ordered the college on Wednesday to make public.

The Republic sued the college for the e-mails, arguing in court that the records could help the public determine if the college took appropriate steps in dealing with Loughner.

Within hours of the court decision Wednesday, the college announced that it would improve its threat-assessment procedures by hiring a staff psychologist and contracting with a nationally recognized behavioral-assessment expert.

The e-mail reports of Loughner's disruptive behavior started in September 2009 and reached its apex as the 2010 spring semester ended in June. When the fall semester started last August, new e-mails surfaced.

The first incident involved Loughner's e-mail complaints that he was scammed in paying for a Tai-Chi class.

The instructor e-mailed another college official about Loughner, saying, "I think I see so many people come through my classes that there will be a few psycho eggs. I could tell he had emotional problems, but my mission is to help everyone."

In February, a student reported that she saw Loughner with what she believed to be a pocket knife in class and asked for reassurance from her instructor. The instructor said in an e-mail that he did not see the knife.

Other instructors reported Loughner's outbursts in class, and in June, counselors were contacted. Campus police reports were filed, and Loughner was taken out of class for discussion.

"I have no idea what he is capable of doing," math instructor Benjamin McGahee wrote in June. "I just want our class to be safe."

Administrators were undecided about what steps to follow as campus police reports stacked up, the e-mails show.

A campus police officer in June told officials they should begin a process to expel Loughner; administrators said they needed more time. "I told him we were not ready to do that because we needed more investigation," Division Dean Patricia Houston wrote.

In September, after more discussions about incidents, an administrator said the college was limited in what it could do.

"All we can do with this student is actually address the behavior and performance," administrator Lorraine Morales wrote, asking what others had said to Loughner and questioning if he was a veteran or disabled. "Have you provided anything in writing to the student about his behavior? Does he agree or deny your assessment of inappropriate behavior? Does he provide a reason why he disagrees?"

Morales went on to ask if a written warning should be issued or if they should take other steps. "A behavior contract, maybe."

Loughner was suspended after college officials discovered a "strange video on YouTube," in which the student filmed himself touring the campus and claiming to be a victim of torture and mind control. Administrators circulated a transcript of the film in which Loughner says, "This is my genocide school."

"This is disconcerting," noted one campus employee. "The student sounds very disturbed."

A day after his suspension, college officials began circulating a warning bulletin with Loughner's picture to faculty members. E-mails were marked "Red Category." The message: "Jared Lee Loughner is not permitted on any Pima Community College property. If you see him, please contact campus police immediately."

Even then, e-mails stressed that the information was for law enforcement and staff use only and "cannot be disseminated to the public."

The e-mails did not indicate that Loughner's case was referred to the school's Behavior Assessment Committee, which advises administrators on how to handle students whose conduct may present a danger.

The committee, made up of a vice chancellor, a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, and a campus police officer, can determine if a student should be restricted from campus until cleared by a mental-health examiner.

The college's conduct code dealing with potentially dangerous students doesn't mention Arizona's Title 36 law, which gives any "responsible individual" the right to request that a person undergo a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. [ In Arizona all it take to lock ANYBODY in a mental institution is for a person to complain that the guy is crazy and a judge to agree with them and boom the guy will be arrested and locked up in a mental institution. The Secret Service used this law to lock up and jail Kevin Walsh for his weird views.

Here are some snips on the Arizona laws governing this. ]

The only references to a clinical review in the e-mails came on the same day or after Loughner was suspended. A college counselor outlined Loughner's behavior problems under the heading, "notes for . . . clinical guidance" and suggested a referral to the Behavior Assessment Committee to get "advice on restrictions" for his return.

The Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University said in April that Pima officials could have done much more in Loughner's case, including using the state law to force him to undergo a mental-health evaluation.

Throughout the e-mail exchange, Pima officials urged caution about acting rashly and violating Loughner's rights.

"It is a matter of balancing a disruptive student's right to due process with the rights of other students in the class," Dean Houston wrote in a June e-mail. "Since there has been no direct threat from the student and since he has completely complied with the directive given to him . . . I did not feel comfortable rushing to remove the student from class."

Lucinda Roy, a Virginia Tech English professor who had tutored Seung-Hui Cho, the killer of 32 people, wrote in a commentary a month after the Tucson shooting that it initially appeared Pima Community College had acted commendably and "learned from the errors made by Virginia Tech."

"That being said," she continued, "there are still some things that probably could have been done differently. Why, for example, was a concerted effort not made to get Jared Loughner evaluated?"

Roy said after Loughner was kicked out, a motive of revenge actually increased his threat to the school. "Here was an unbalanced, quite possibly enraged student, who, as far as the college knew, hadn't had a mental-health examination and so was unlikely getting treatment," she wrote.

Source

Judge finds Jared Loughner incompetent to stand trial

by Craig Harris and Michael Kiefer - May. 25, 2011 12:30 PM

The Arizona Republic

TUCSON - A federal judge Wednesday agreed with two doctors that suspected Tucson shooter Jared Loughner is not competent to stand trial, and he will be hospitalized in a facility in Springfield, Mo., to receive treatment.

Loughner will not be released from custody while he is being treated, and he could remain hospitalized indefinitely if he does not get well but is determined to be a danger to himself or others, according to those familiar with federal law.

The goal is for Loughner, charged with shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others on Jan. 8, to voluntarily take medications that his doctors will prescribe for him so his competency is restored and he can face charges, said Robbie Sherwood, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. [ The goal is to force him to become competent so the government can then put him on trial, convict him and execute him for his crimes. ]

"We believe he can be restored to competency with proper medication," Sherwood said.

Loughner, charged with 49 crimes that left 13 injured, has pleaded not guilty.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns means Loughner can be held for up to four months before another hearing will occur to determine if he's competent to stand trial. If Loughner refuses to take his medication, the judge could order he be involuntary medicated, Sherwood said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 affirmed the authority to administer anti-psychotic drugs to a criminal defendant only to render that person competent to stand trial.

Paul Charlton, Arizona's U.S. Attorney from 2001 to 2007, said in a phone interview that Loughner could be held as long as it's determined "he is a danger to himself or others."

Determining whether a person is competent is a three-prong process, said Michael Bayless, a Phoenix-based forensic psychologist who is familiar with the case.

Bayless said a defendant is incompetent to stand trial if the defendant:

• Has a mental disease or defect that prevents the person from understanding the nature of the proceedings.

• Suffers from a disease or defect that prevents the person from being able to help his or her lawyer to present a defense.

• Does not understand what it means to plead guilty in court.

Bayless said if Loughner never is restored to competency, he will remain at a mental hospital.

"He will stay until he proves to the staff he's not dangerous to himself or others," Bayless said. "It could go for rest of his life if he never gets better. If he gets better, he will go back to trial." [ Translation - the Feds are either going to execute him, or jail him for the rest of his life. ]

Loughner was treated by Drs. Christina Pietz, a staff psychologist at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., and Matthew Carroll, a San Diego-based forensic psychiatrist. The doctors agreed that Loughner was not competent to stand trial. They did not testify Wednesday, as prosecutors and attorneys for Loughner previously agreed that they would rely upon the doctors' written reports.

E-mails released last week show that instructors, students and administrators at Pima Community College worried that Loughner was unstable because of repeated class disruptions and run-ins with campus authorities.

Now Loughner will be sent to a federal facility, much like one where he underwent evaluation, for restoration to competency.

"Generally speaking, that kind of treatment could be long and drawn out," said Dr. Steven Herron, a Tucson psychiatrist who has led restoration efforts.

There have been hints that Loughner may not be cooperating with his attorneys, specifically, two letters that he wrote to the judge and that the judge turned over to Judy Clarke, the lead defense counsel.

Translation - Gabrielle Giffords is a zombie?

Answers to blunt questions about Giffords

Pia Carusone knew the day would come when the questions about her boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, became more indelicate.

After answering some of those questions, Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, told me, “We want to give people a clear picture (about Giffords). It's not in anyone's interest to have anyone feel misled. But it's hard because we satisfy one person and one set of questions and tomorrow we're on to the next. The feeling is like it's never enough.”

It won't be. Not from now on. The inquiries will keep coming until the day Giffords decides if she will return to Congress. [Or probably better said if her handlers decide to have her run for Congress again]

Is she ready to do that?

No.

Is she close?

No.

The shooting on Jan. 8 was horrific and the grief over the six people killed and 13 injured, including Giffords, was profound. So the media backed off.

After all, the fact that Giffords survived and seemed almost daily to improve was miraculous. We reported on the upbeat assessments made by Giffords' doctors. We passed along the optimistic observations of her staff and her husband. We followed with giddy appreciation the love story of Giffords and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, and noted each time a political friend or associate visited the congresswoman and offered a tidbit about her progress.

But Giffords is a public figure, for whom tidbits are not enough.

So I asked Giffords staff if they could explain in terms that even a newspaper columnist could understand exactly where Giffords stands.

For example, how well is she able to communicate with them?

“We do a lot of inferring with her, because her communication skills have been impacted the most,” Carusone said. “If you think of it as someone who is able to communicate with you clearly, it is easy to test them. You can ask them a series of questions and you can get clear answers back. Where as with Gabby what we've been able to infer and what we believe is that her comprehension is very good. I don't know about percentage-wise or not, but it's close to normal if not normal.” [Translation - they can read her mind, and she is always thinking wonderful things]

Does her struggle to communicate mean that she's not using complete sentences?

“Exactly,” Carusone said. “She is borrowing upon other ways of communicating. Her words are back more and more now, but she's still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing. Add it all together and she's able to express the basics of what she wants or needs. But when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that's where she's had the trouble.” [Translation - we ask her questions and she smiles back and says nothing. That must mean she is thinking something important]

Is that frustrating for her?

“Absolutely,” Carusone said. “When she is trying to come up with a word or a sentence and she's clearly struggling, putting everything she's got into it and sometimes she's not successful. When she is, there's a relief that comes across her face that she has found the word. But when she can't come up with that it is absolute frustration.”

Who is making the decisions for the congresswoman? Is it Giffords herself or her husband, family and staff? [Hmmm ... so her family and staff are doing her job because she can't! I guess the good news is her family and staff can't vote for her.]

“It's a combination,” Carusone said. “I've told her that we've been approached by every media outlet in the world, at this point, and that when she is ready there are plenty of options for how we do it. She does not want to do that right now. And that's understandable. For someone who takes her job seriously and has a good relationship with the press and knows how important that is, to feel anything less than 100 percent is daunting. Let alone to feel what she's feeling. A real struggle and challenge with communication.”

Is there a timetable established for deciding if she will remain in office?

“The only firm timetable is the legal timetable and that is May of 2012, when petitions are due for reelection,” Carusone said. “That's a firm timetable. Short of that, we'd love to know today what her life will be, what her quality of life will be, which will determine whether she'll be able to run for office and all sorts of other things involving her life. But we just don't know yet…We're about halfway through the process that is the most important time for recovery. Patients recover for the rest of their lives but it's the first 12 to 14 months that you make the biggest jumps… In the doctors minds it's not even close to when you begin to make the final prognosis for the quality of her life.”

When will the public get its first good look at her?

“This is a one step at a time process,” Carusone said. “It has been a difficult and busy time with everything. Every week there is something new. I think that we're getting close to the time when Gabby will feel comfortable releasing a photo. Then, we go from there.”

How clearly have doctors been able to determine the exact damage to her brain done by the bullet?

“An MRI is the most complete way to look at someone's brain, but she cannot ever have an MRI,” Carusone said. “She has bullet shards inevitably in her head and because MRI is magnetic that obviously would be bad. That is a problem that shooting victims have. They have to use a CT scan. If she had suffered a stroke they could do an MRI and get a much better picture of the damage to her brain. But that will never happen.”

Carusone and the rest of Giffords staff are in uncharted territory. While they continue to battle the emotional burden of having lost a friend and colleague, Gabe Zimmerman, and nearly losing Giffords, they must carry out the responsibilities of a congressional office, work with Giffords' husband and family, satisfy the curiosity of the media and answer the concerns of the public.

Given all that, what is the blunt assessment of Giffords, right now, five months after having been shot through the head?

“She's living. She's alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before,” Carusone said. “There's no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won't plateau today and that she'll keep going and that when she does plateau it will be at a place far away from here.” [Translation - she is a zombie, but please vote to reelect her because her staff needs their jobs!]

Doctors remain pleased with Giffords' progress and optimistic that she will make what Carusone calls a “tremendously good recovery.” But it will take time. And there are no guarantees. And when you are a politician, like Giffords, the questions will keep coming.

“There's so much that is unknown,” Carusone said. “With cancer or a heart issue doctors can tell you with a lot more. With brain injuries they can't. For all of modern medicine a lot of this is a waiting game. That is a difficult thing to explain when speaking to the public.

“But she was a perfectly healthy 40-year-old who was injured on the job. I'm hoping that buys her a little more patience. But it's a brutal world out there.”

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is a zombie?

Report: Gabrielle Giffords struggling to communicate; return to Congress uncertain

By James Oliphant Washington Bureau

June 9, 2011, 9:17 a.m.

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt about whether she ever will.

That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong. And it remains unclear just how much damage her brain has suffered.

Asked for a blunt description of Giffords’ condition, her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, replied: "She's living. She's alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before."

As to whether she resembles herself before the shooting, Carusone said, “There's no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won't plateau today and that she'll keep going, and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here."

The news may be sobering, but it's not necessarily a surprise. The state of Giffords' health has been closely guarded information as early, hopeful accounts of her rapid physical and motor recovery yielded to more cautious -- and less frequent -- reports. She remains at a Houston rehabilitation facility while her staff manages her day-to-day congressional business.

Although her two trips to Florida to witness the launch of her husband’s space shuttle mission were hailed as significant milestones, she was kept from the public. No photo of her after the shooting has yet been released, but Carusone said that day is coming.

"This is a one-step-at-a-time process," she told the Republic. "It has been a difficult and busy time with everything. Every week, there is something new. I think that we're getting close to the time when Gabby will feel comfortable releasing a photo. Then, we go from there."

Carusone stressed that Giffords remains in the middle of a long path toward recovery, and that doctors aren’t close to being ready to assess the kind of life she will ultimately live. As far as her political career goes, the only deadline her staff is keeping in mind is May 2012, when she would have to file for reelection if that is her plan.

"That's a firm timetable. Short of that, we'd love to know today what her life will be, what her quality of life will be, which will determine whether she'll be able to run for office and all sorts of other things involving her life,” Carusone said. “But we just don't know yet. . . .”

In the initial months after the shooting, as optimistic reports of Giffords’ recovery continued to surface, speculation arose that the moderate Democrat might make a run for the open U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by the retiring Republican Jon Kyl. But the latest news would seem to place the likelihood of such a bid outside the realm of possibility -- at least for now.

First photos of Gabrielle Giffords since attack

First photos of Gabrielle Giffords released since shooting shows Arizona congresswoman smiling

5:08 p.m. CDT, June 12, 2011

HOUSTON (AP) -- Two portraits of a smiling Rep. Gabrielle Giffords gave the nation its closest look yet at the congresswoman's remarkable recovery less than six months after she was shot in the head at point-blank range outside a supermarket.

The pictures posted Sunday on Facebook were the first clear photos of the Arizona congresswoman who rose to national prominence after a gunman opened fire on her in January as she met with constituents in Tucson. Six people were killed and 13 others wounded.

But the images left unanswered many questions about her cognitive abilities and when -- or even if -- she will be able to resume her job in Congress.

"The image doesn't tell us the inner mental state or the brain itself, how it's functioning," said Jordan Grafman, director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Research Laboratory at the Kessler Foundation Research Center in West Orange, N.J., explaining that many brain-injury patients look good within months of being hurt.

"What's their social skills? Do they have a nuanced sense of humor? Can they participate in activities? All that is what's important," asked Grafman, who has not treated Giffords.

In one of the images, Giffords smiles broadly and looks straight at the camera like a high school student posing for a yearbook. In another, more candid shot, she is grinning alongside her mother. In both, her smile is largely unchanged, though her hair is shorter and darker. The pictures give few indications she has been hurt, let alone shot in the forehead.

Giffords' aides say she could be ready to be released from a rehabilitation center later this month or in early July. The idea was to discourage a "paparazzi-like frenzy" of photography when she attends outpatient therapy in a more public setting, they said.

The congresswoman's staff said the images had not been altered or touched up in any way. But other than saying the pictures were taken May 17 at the Houston rehabilitation hospital where Giffords has been undergoing treatment, her staff offered no further insight into her recovery.

For months, they have closely guarded Giffords and information about her condition. Her doctors, in the absence of permission from the family to speak publicly, remain mum. So the release of the photos attracted intense interest.

Giffords was shot in the left side of the head, the part of the brain that controls speech and communication. Doctors, friends and families have said she can speak, sing some of her favorite songs and engage in some conversation.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told NBC's "Meet the Press" she had a "wonderful conversation" Wednesday with Giffords on the phone, and that this time her colleague even initiated some of the topics they discussed.

Since she was wounded, the public's only other glance of Giffords came in grainy images from late April that showed her slowly walking up the steps of a NASA jet that flew her to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, rocket into space.

The launch was delayed, forcing Giffords to make a second trip to Florida in May, when she watched the blastoff from a wheelchair.

Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin acknowledged that the congresswoman looks different now than in the photos. Her hair is shorter because her head was shaved ahead of surgery to repair a gap in her skull that had initially been left open to allow her brain to swell. Doctors also fixed what appear to be subtle inequities between her eyes seen in the pictures, he said.

The photos were released to help satisfy "intense interest in the congresswoman's appearance." And they seemed to please the public and her admirers.

Hundreds of people commented under the images, which were posted on countless web sites. More than 3,000 people clicked "like" on Giffords' Facebook page.

Some of the comments also mentioned Jared Lee Loughner, 22, the shooting suspect who has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the shooting. He is being held at a Missouri facility where prosecutors hope his competency can be restored after a judge declared him unfit to stand trial.

Others raised questions about the actual extent of Giffords' progress.

"It would be nice to get a truly honest assessment of her internal cognitive experience," wrote Alex Hakkinen, who told the AP he works with brain injury patients at a rehab center in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Hakkinen said Giffords' staff has an obligation to bring her out in public at some point so constituents can assess her abilities, maybe in a "fireside chat" of sorts. Or they should acknowledge that she's incapable of doing so right now, he said.

Chief of Staff Pia Carusone indicated in an interview published Thursday in the Arizona Republic that, despite reports that Giffords is talking and walking, she remains a shadow of her bubbly self. The congresswoman, she said, can verbalize her basic needs, but struggles to string together more complex thoughts.

If her recovery "plateaued" now, Carusone said, Giffords' quality of life would be far less than what she had known before the shooting.

Carusone stopped short of answering the most critical questions: Will Giffords' resume her post in the House of Representatives and will she run for the Senate?

Until the Jan. 8 shooting, some Arizona Democrats viewed Giffords as one of their best hopes for gaining votes in the Senate.

The shooting has created something of a vacuum, with few candidates willing to declare their interest until Giffords' situation is clarified. Carusone has only said that the congresswoman has until May 2012 to decide.

In the short-term, the photos focused attention on Giffords' appearance.

Of the two pictures, one is more clearly posed, that of a smiling Giffords looking directly at the camera. The left side of her head appears slightly distorted and swollen, and a healed scar from a breathing tube can be seen in her neck. A second photo shows Giffords in a more casual light -- smiling while sitting alongside her mother, Gloria Giffords, with the hospital's greenery behind them.

The pictures were taken by Tucson photographer P.K. Weis, who said he has known the congresswoman for at least 10 years.

But brain expert Grafman noted the camera is angled toward Giffords' right side, her better half since the bullet struck her on the left.

For some, simply seeing the congresswoman smiling and radiant was encouraging.

Susan Hileman, who survived three gunshot wounds in the rampage, said she spent Sunday morning smiling while looking at photos of Giffords.

"I am delighted and pleasantly surprised," said Hileman, who was holding the hand of 9-year-old shooting victim Christina-Taylor Green when the gunfire erupted. "Look at that smile. How could you not be happy looking at that smile?"

The pictures, Hileman said, gave her hope as she endures her own painful rehabilitation.

"It's a miracle she's alive ... It's going to be a long road, but if anybody is well-positioned to do it, it's Gabby," she said. "She's physically fit. She's smart. She's driven. She's young ... She has all the pieces in place."

Those elements will ultimately help her long-term recovery, experts say. A person's education, intelligence, environment and life experience affect recovery from a brain injury.

"It's striking. She does look great," said Dr. Richard Riggs, chairman of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Still, Riggs, who has not been involved in Giffords' treatment but has been tracking her progress, said the months after her release will be critical.

Patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury can become easily disoriented, have trouble prioritizing, suffer memory loss and have difficulty recognizing people. Some struggle to do several tasks at the same time.

Most cognitive recovery occurs in the first six months to a year after an injury, though it becomes less noticeable as time progresses. In the second year, progress sharply drops.

"The picture tells us that physically she's having what would appear to be a strong recovery from that standpoint," Riggs said. "But it does not tell us anything about the cognitive capabilities or where she is on the path of independent living much less going back to a job."

------

Myers reported from Phoenix. Associated Press Writer Bob Seavey in Phoenix also contributed to this report.

----

You can follow Plushnick-Masti at twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

First photos of Gabrielle Giffords since attack

Gabrielle Giffords: the Long-Awaited First Photo Since Getting Shot in Face

By James King, Mon., Jun. 13 2011 at 12:29 PM

​Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' staffers released the long-awaited first photo of the congresswoman since she was shot in the face during the January 8, Tucson shooting rampage.

Giffords' staffers say the reason they released the photos is to end any curiosity about the congresswoman's condition. They want to avoid a "paparazzi situation" -- the gossip hounds at TMZ reportedly were offering $250,000 for the first photos of the wounded congresswoman.

As you can see, Giffords looks pretty good for someone who was shot in the face, but it seems unlikely that she'll be able to resume her gig in Congress -- or run for Senate -- anytime soon.

Her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, recently painted a much bleaker picture of Giffords' recovery than had been previously reported, saying the congresswoman uses brief, one-word sentences, and often gets frustrated while trying to speak.

She said Giffords is not ready to return to office.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is a living zombie

Source

US Rep. Giffords released from Houston hospital

APBy RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI - Associated Press | AP – Thu, Jun 16, 2011

HOUSTON (AP) — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been released from the hospital and will continue her recovery from a devastating head wound at her husband's suburban Houston home, enabling her to make daily trips to the hospital where she began to rebuild her life after a gunman shot her five months ago.

Giffords' departure Wednesday from Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann marks a new phase in her rehabilitation.

She struggles to speak and walk, and will need daily, intensive therapy. [yep a zombie!] Whether she will ever recover enough to resume her congressional duties is still unknown.

But doctors, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly and experts who have been observing Giffords' recovery emphasize that going home is a key milestone and could help stimulate her progress.

"Anyone who knows Gabby knows that she loves being outside," Kelly said in a statement released by the hospital. "Living and working in a rehab facility for five months straight has been especially challenging for her."

Giffords will still go to the hospital each day where she will participate in speech, music, physical and occupational therapy with the same team that has treated her since she arrived in Houston in late January.

Now, however, at the end of each day "she will be with her family," Kelly said.

The congresswoman will move to Kelly's home in League City, a suburb near the Johnson Space Center, where she will have 24-hour help from a home care assistant.

The 41-year-old was shot in the left side of the brain, the part that controls speech and communication, [no wonder she is having problems speaking] on Jan. 8 while meeting with constituents in Tucson. Six people were killed and 13 wounded in the attack, including the lawmaker and members of her staff.

Her release from the hospital was met with excitement.

"When I went home from the hospital after surgery, I was so nervous, but boy it's wonderful to be home in your own surroundings, to be able to have things on your own schedule," said Ron Barber, who also survived the shooting.

"I'm sure it'll be uplifting and healing for her, too," he said.

Jordan Grafman, director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Research Laboratory at the Kessler Foundation Research Center in West Orange, N.J., said being around family often motivates patients. He warned, however, that the congresswoman is far from healed and will has many months, years and even a lifetime of recovery ahead of her. [I wonder how many years she will continue to sit in Congress as a zombie? Yes it is sad she is a zombie, but don't the people she represents deserve a real Congressman or Congresswoman who can represent them?]

"Often, you can do many things for yourself but not everything, that's not unusual after a severe traumatic brain injury," Grafman said, explaining why she would need professional help at home. "It's not unusual to be released before complete independence and you may never achieve complete independence" [Translation - there is a good chance she will be a zombie for the rest of her life]

Giffords' Chief of Staff Pia Carusone recently gave the first clear indication of how slowly Giffords is recovering. After months of optimistic, rosy reports from Giffords' doctors, staff and family, Carusone said that while the congresswoman can speak, she struggles to express complex thoughts and sentences.

"Her words are back more and more now, but she's still using facial expressions as a way to express. Pointing. Gesturing," Carusone told the Arizona Republic.

"Add it all together, and she's able to express the basics of what she wants or needs," Carusone said. "But when it comes to a bigger and more complex thought that requires words, that's where she's had the trouble."

Better news came on Sunday, when the first pictures of Giffords since the shooting were posted on her Facebook page. Although wearing glasses and sporting shorter, darker hair, there were few indications she had been injured, let alone shot in the forehead.

One image showed her smiling broadly and looking straight at the camera. In another, more candid shot, she is grinning alongside her mother. In both, her trademark smile is largely unchanged.

The pictures were taken shortly after Giffords' returned from Florida in May, where she traveled to watch Kelly command the space shuttle Endeavour's last mission. After that, while Kelly was still far from Earth at the International Space Station, she underwent surgery to replace a piece of her skull that was removed shortly after the shooting to allow her brain to swell. Until the surgery, she wore a helmet to protect her head.

"Gabby has recovered well from the surgery," neurosurgeon Dr. Dong Kim said Wednesday. "Her wounds have healed, she has resumed full physical therapy without a helmet, and I am comfortable that she can be discharged." [But she is still a zombie]

Kelly returned June 1 from his 16-day shuttle mission, and is now home to be with his wife.

The couple met in 2003 during a young leaders' forum in China, then married in 2007 in Tucson. Giffords divided her time between Washington, D.C., and Arizona, while Kelly remained in Houston.

The two saw each other whenever and wherever they could.

A judge has declared shooting suspect Jared Loughner mentally incapable of participating in his defense and sent him to a federal facility where doctors will try to treat his condition and make it possible to put him on trial.

With an open Senate seat in Arizona, some Democrats had viewed Giffords as one of their best hopes for winning it, before the Jan. 8 shooting threw her political future into question.

The shooting has created something of a vacuum, with few candidates willing to declare their interest until Giffords' situation is clarified. Carusone has only said that the congresswoman has until May 2012 to decide.

Barber said he hopes she'll return to Tucson soon.

"This is just one of the next really major steps toward her recovery," he said. "I'm sure she'll count this as another step just as we all do."

Lawyers - Stop forcing Loughner to take drugs

Lawyers: Halt Loughner’s drugs

PHOENIX — Lawyers for the Tucson shooting rampage suspect say federal prison officials have decided to forcibly give him anti-psychotic drugs.

Attorneys for Jared Lee Loughner filed an emergency motion on Friday asking U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to stop them from doing so.

Burns has twice denied their requests to be given notice before their client is drugged. Loughner has been at a Missouri prison medical facility since Burns declared him mentally incompetent to stand trial in May.

This could lead to a new court hearing about whether Loughner can be forced to take medication.

Defense attorney Judy Clarke wrote that a prison administrative hearing on June 14 found Loughner was a danger to himself. She doesn’t know if they have started giving him drugs.

Clarke said the defense should be notified if Loughner is given anti-psychotics to decide whether to take action to protect his rights, previous AP reports show.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six and injured 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Loughner was last in court last month for his mental competency hearing, when he was removed from the courtroom after disrupting the proceedings with an outburst.

Mental health experts who examined Loughner concluded he suffers from schizophrenia.

Burns ordered that new evaluations of Loughner be prepared by Aug. 31. He tentatively set a hearing for Sept. 21, but said it may not go forward if the evaluators find he continues to be incompetent.

Loughner spits on lawyer, throws chair

Loughner spat on lawyer, threw chair, court records show

Jun. 27, 2011 03:01 PM

Associated Press

Lawyers for the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage have provided the first official picture of their client's behavior behind bars, saying he threw a plastic chair against a wall of his prison cell on two occasions and spit on one of his attorneys.

The attorneys for Jared Lee Loughner also say that their client has been held in solitary confinement since his Jan. 8 arrest. His prison behavior was revealed in a request by his attorneys to prevent prison authorities from forcibly giving him anti-psychotic drugs.

Loughner has been at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo., where mental health experts will try to make him psychologically fit to stand trial. He arrived May 28 and will spend up to four months there. A judge has twice denied requests by Loughner's attorneys to be given notice before their client is drugged.

Defense attorneys said a prison administrative hearing on June 14 found Loughner was a danger to himself. They don't know whether prison officials have started giving him drugs.

The filing doesn't provide a lot of detail of Loughner's behavior, but does reveal that he threw a chair during a March 28 interview with psychologist Christina Pietz. It doesn't give details of the other chair-throwing incident, nor does it specify which one of his lawyers he spat on more than two months ago.

At a hearing last month to determine if he's fit to stand trial, Loughner had an outburst in which he lowered his head to within inches of the courtroom table, lifted his head and began a loud and angry rant. "Thank you for the free kill. She died in front of me. Your cheesiness," according to a court transcript. It wasn't clear who he was referring to.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

If Loughner is later determined to be competent enough to understand the case against him and assist his lawyers, the court proceedings will resume. If he isn't deemed competent at the end of his treatment, Loughner's stay at the facility can be extended.

Loughner's lawyers haven't said whether they intend to present an insanity defense, but noted in court filings that his mental condition will likely be a central issue at trial.

Loughner lawyers - Stop doping up our client!

Loughner lawyers: Stop giving him medication

They argue hospital is violating his rights

by JJ Hensley - Jun. 28, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Jared Loughner's attorneys have asked a judge to stop psychiatrists from forcibly giving Loughner psychotropic drugs until a hearing can be held, claiming hospital staff violated his constitutional rights when he was put under medication.

Federal prosecutors have until today to respond to the requested injunction, which Loughner's attorneys filed with U.S. District Judge Larry Burns late last week.

Burns earlier this month ruled that hospital officials would have to notify Loughner's attorneys if their client was forced to take drugs that could help restore him to competency.

Loughner must be restored to mental competency before he can stand trial in the January shooting near Tucson that killed six and wounded 18 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Last month, Burns ruled that Loughner was currently incompetent to stand trial after two mental-health professionals diagnosed him as paranoid schizophrenic and delusional.

Loughner was sent to a federal hospital in Missouri where he is undergoing restoration treatment.

His attorneys claim in their court filing that the hospital administrators denied Loughner's request to have his attorney present at a June 13 hearing where it was determined that Loughner would be forced to take psychotropic drugs that could restore him to competency.

His attorneys also claim that the hospital's decision was not made to prevent Loughner from endangering himself or others, as the court allowed, but instead to treat Loughner's underlying mental illness.

"The prison's sole prerogative is to neutralize any danger. Yet here, the prison engaged instead in the error-prone, multifaceted decision to treat mental illness and did so in a truncated, non-adversarial setting when it decided to forcibly medicate Mr. Loughner on the ostensible grounds of addressing dangerousness," Loughner's attorneys wrote.

The filing marks the third time Burns has been asked to rule on a matter relating to Loughner's medication.

In the first ruling, Burns found that hospital officials were not required to notify Loughner's attorneys before he was given any anti-psychotic drugs.

Burns later ruled that Loughner's attorneys did not have to be notified if he voluntarily took the drugs. But Burns said a court hearing would be held if hospital staff forced Loughner to take the drugs involuntarily for reasons that were not related to dangers Loughner presented to himself or others.

Loughner lawyers appeal decision over medication

Loughner lawyers appeal decision over medication

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 1, 2011 05:48 PM

The Arizona Republic

Attorneys for accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner on Friday filed an appeal in the federal court of appeals trying to overrule a lower court order allowing Loughner to be forcibly medicated.

During a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns ruled that the federal Bureau of Prisons acted appropriately when it decided to give anti-psychotic drugs to Loughner without first holding a court hearing.

Prison staff instead held an administrative hearing in which Loughner was determined to be a danger to himself and others. According to court argument and legal documents, Loughner had thrown chairs on more than one occasion, had lunged at and spit on his lead defense attorney, Judy Clarke, and had been observed hallucinating and yelling in his cell. During the administrative hearing, which was held in Loughner's hospital room, he barricaded himself behind his bed.

Loughner, 22, who is charged with murdering six people and wounding 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords during a Jan. 8 rampage near Tucson, was declared incompetent to stand trial in May and was sent to a federal facility in Missouri to be restored to competency.

Clarke had filed motions asking that she be contacted before Loughner was medicated. Citing case law, Burns ruled that a court hearing only needed to be held if Loughner were forcibly medicated for purposes of restoration, but not if doctors determined that he was dangerous.

Unbeknownst to Clarke or prosecutors, hospital staff began administering psychotropic drugs to Loughner on June 22. When she learned of the drugging, Clarke and Loughner's other defense attorneys demanded a court hearing, which took place Wednesday, with the judge and defense attorneys in San Diego and the prosecutors participating by closed-circuit TV from Tucson.

Burns denied the request to stop the forcible medication. Clarke has appealed the ruling.

Paying a brain dead zombie $174,000 a year

Source

Giffords absent from D.C., but presence remains

by Dan Nowicki - Jul. 8, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

For six months, constituents in Arizona's 8th Congressional District have been without a vote in the U.S. House as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords works to recover from a gunshot wound to the head she suffered in a Jan. 8 assassination attempt.

But voters are not left entirely without representation.

Giffords' staff members have worked tirelessly to serve constituents who have needed help with problems ranging from home foreclosures to wildfire evacuations. That's even though the close-knit staff of 17 full-time and four part-time employees is still reeling from the slaying of one of their colleagues and the wounding of two other co-workers in the shooting spree near Tucson.

Although Giffords is unable to cast votes on the House floor, several of her Capitol Hill colleagues on both sides of the aisle have stepped up to ensure that she continues to have an influence in Washington. They are introducing legislation on her behalf and asking questions reflecting the three-term Democrat's concerns at committee hearings.

Giffords' long-term political future remains unclear as she continues her outpatient rehabilitation in Houston. She has not signaled when she will return to Congress or if she will seek re-election in 2012. Optimism once expressed by supporters that she might recover enough to make a run for the Senate next year seems to have subsided in recent weeks.

Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, told The Arizona Republic in June that Giffords must meet a May deadline to submit nominating petitions to get on the ballot but that, otherwise, no decision was imminent. Capt. Mark Kelly, Giffords' astronaut husband, last week said he is not interested in entering Arizona politics despite rumors he might try to run for the Senate or even Giffords' House seat.

"I don't think there's any timeline, but people have to keep in mind that recovery from these injuries occurs over a long period of time," said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., a congressional friend who had dinner with Giffords and Kelly this week in Texas. "She will continue to get better for another year to 18 months. She's already come a long way. So, if that process continues, she's going to be in a position to come back to Congress if that's what she chooses to do. My sense is that it will be, but you don't know until the time comes."

In the short term, Giffords' constituents seem content to give her the time she needs to recuperate. Although there have been stray comments in the blogosphere and in other media suggesting that Giffords should consider resigning, her office reports it has felt no pressure for her to quit. If Giffords did step down, a special election would be held to replace her.

Sources have not been eager to go on the record to even talk about the possibility of Giffords resigning. A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee declined to comment when asked if the organization intended to recruit a candidate to run against Giffords next year.

However, in a June 24 opinion essay on CNN's website, one political scholar made the case that Giffords should give up her seat because she was not fulfilling key duties of the office, including some that staff can't do for her.

"No one can vote on the House floor but a House member," Paul Sracic, chairman of the political-science department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said in an interview with The Republic. "Unfortunately, that role can't be replaced."

Sracic said he was surprised by the negative fury sparked by his CNN essay. The response included, he said, "a lot of hate e-mail - just really, really vicious stuff - that went on for days, and even telephone calls to my office threatening to have me fired."

Some constituents of Giffords' "told me it was none of my business and they were perfectly happy with the situation," Sracic said.

Another political expert doubted that calls for Giffords to leave office would ever gain much traction with the general public.

"There's a great reservoir of sympathy for her and admiration for the progress that she's made," said John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California who has written extensively about Congress. "You might hear scattered voices, but they're not going to be a significant part of the public. I think her position is secure. People admire her more than ever." 'An excellent staff'

Giffords' aides said they believe her constituents have been patient and respectful because they understand the congresswoman was wounded while doing her job as a representative and can see that she has been making sustained progress in her recovery. Two photos of a beaming Giffords that were published June 12 show she has come a long way since the massacre at one of her "Congress On Your Corner" constituent events outside a Safeway.

Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords' director of community outreach, was among six people killed by the gunman. Ron Barber and Pam Simon, two other Giffords aides, were among the 12 others shot.

"I really believe that people who live in the district are sensitive to the fact that it has only been six months since she was shot and that she's recovering and is doing very well," said Barber, who on Tuesday returned to his job as Giffords' district director on a part-time basis. "I think they are more than willing to give her the time it takes to recover. In the meantime, they absolutely know that our staff is there for them."

For the staff members in Giffords' Washington, Tucson and Sierra Vista offices, the workload has remained steady since the shooting and now is about equal to what it was at this point last year. As of Thursday, they had logged requests for help from 1,228 constituents since Jan. 8. They said they had resolved 1,024 cases during the same time period, though some of those predated the shooting.

Constituents often reach out to their congressional representative for assistance in dealing with the federal bureaucracy or with other concerns.

"A lot of the work of any congressional office is carried out by the staff," Pitney said. "And she has a reputation for having an excellent staff." Still a presence

Giffords' staff members also are working with Smith and other lawmakers to ensure that she can continue to affect issues before Congress.

The staff focuses on topics such as border security, solar energy and veterans affairs, or issues on which Giffords in the past clearly articulated a position or took a stand, Barber said.

"We always try to follow what we know would be her position today if she were back in the job," Barber said. "Anything that comes along that is completely new or different, we try to stay away from. Because, obviously, we can't speak for her, and we wouldn't even try."

Smith, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, which counts Giffords as a member, said he has worked with her staff on Defense Department issues and is determined to make sure the panel continues to reflect her legislative and local priorities.

In March, Smith visited Giffords' district to learn more about Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Fort Huachuca and other defense-related issues in southern Arizona.

Smith even injects Giffords' point of view into committee hearings.

"Her staff generates questions for the various witnesses we have," Smith said. "In my role as ranking member, I have a little bit extra time, so I take that time and make sure that those questions are asked as well."

Smith and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., also have reintroduced a Giffords bill that would move the Pentagon toward a more efficient energy policy.

"Gabby is a great friend, and I know she's eager to continue work on important issues throughout her recovery," Udall said in a written statement to The Republic.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, has worked with Giffords' staff on legislation to improve the spotty cellular-phone service in the U.S.-Mexican border region. The measure already has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate. He told The Republic he hopes to continue to work with Giffords on other border issues.

"We both believe that border security is a bipartisan issue and it's only going to be solved in a bipartisan way, not in a partisan way," Poe said.

Barber said he is proud of the way his colleagues on Giffords' staff have performed under such unprecedented and painful circumstances.

"There's no playbook for this," Barber said. "Nowhere, ever before, has a member of Congress been shot, survived and gone into rehab and had one of her staff killed and two of her staff injured. And her staff that is still in the office has been putting in the hours to get the job done. It's really a remarkable accomplishment."

Source

Prison resumes forcible medication of Loughner

JACQUES BILLEAUDJACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

PHOENIX (AP) — Court records show authorities have resumed forcibly medicating the Tucson shooting rampage suspect, prompting defense attorneys to question whether that violates a court order.

The decision to resume involuntarily treating Jared Lee Loughner — accused in the mass shooting that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — on an emergency basis came Monday, according to the documents, after it was determined that he had become an immediate threat to himself.

Mental health experts have determined Loughner suffers from schizophrenia and will try to make him psychologically fit to stand trial.

Loughner, who is being held at a federal facility in Missouri, had been forcibly medicated for more than a week in late June after prison officials said his outbursts posed a danger and he refused treatment, but the appeals court halted the action.

Loughner's attorneys questioned in court filings whether the involuntary psychotropic drug treatments are in violation of an order by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court, in a ruling earlier this month, forbid prison officials from forcibly treating Loughner, 22, while an appeal on his behalf is being considered.

Robbie Sherwood, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona, which is prosecuting Loughner, declined to comment Thursday.

Loughner's attorneys say their client has been on 24-hour suicide watch. For his part, Loughner denies having suicidal thoughts. Weekly prison records show he remains depressed as he has been for much of his time behind bars, his lawyers say.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the January shooting.

His lawyers are asking for daily reports about his condition to see whether prison officials are willfully violating the court order.

Stephen J. Morse, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, said prison officials are most likely on firm legal ground based on the argument that Loughner's threat to himself posed an emergency and that less intrusive treatments wouldn't be effective.

If prison officials are correct in their assessment, Morse said, it would be difficult to address Loughner's immediate psychological problems before the appeals court hears arguments over the issue of involuntary treatments late next month.

"You want to give him something that will get his mind into a better state to where he will not harm himself," Morse said.

In a July 12 ruling, the appeals court upheld an earlier order that the treatments cease, saying Loughner's interest in not suffering the risk of side effects from powerful drugs is stronger than the government's interest in protecting him, and those around him, in prison. But the ruling noted that authorities can take steps to maintain the safety of prison officials, other inmates and Loughner — including forcibly giving him tranquilizers.

The court's order also said Loughner didn't pose a danger to himself.

After the appeals court put the forced medication on hold, the prison officials put Loughner under round-the-clock observation, saying his psychological condition was deteriorating and needed to be monitored. Loughner became more agitated and sleepless under the constant observation, defense lawyers said.

Loughner had previously been forcibly medicated between June 21 and July 1 at the federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo.

In the latest round of involuntary medication, Loughner was given twice daily dose of an oral solution of Risperidone, a drug used for people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe behavior problems.

His lawyers say their client faced a threat of being injected with Haloperidol — an antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome — if he refused to take the other drug orally.

Prison officials rejected tranquilizers, saying they wouldn't affect the underlying cause of the danger he poses to himself. Authorities said tranquilizers may decrease his agitation but that such a benefit would be short-lived and won't affect his underlying psychotic illness, defense lawyers said.

The appeals court is considering the larger question of whether the decision to forcibly medicate Loughner with psychotropic drugs can be made by prison officials or a judge.

Loughner's attorneys have argued that the decision to forcibly medicate their client solely on the basis of an administrative hearing by prison officials had violated his due-process rights.

Prosecutors have said the appeal is without merit because Loughner's attorneys are asking the lower court judge to substitute his ruling on whether Loughner poses a danger while in prison with the conclusions of mental health professionals.

If Loughner is later determined to be competent enough for trial, the court proceedings will resume. If he isn't deemed competent at the end of his expected four-month treatment, Loughner's stay at the facility can be extended.

Source

Loughner given medication by force again

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 21, 2011 10:10 PM

The Arizona Republic

Federal prison officials have resumed forcing Jared Loughner to take anti-psychotic medications despite a court order not to do so, according to documents filed in federal appeals court.

Loughner's attorney, Judy Clarke, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to enforce a July 12 injunction against forcibly medicating Loughner until the court fully considers the circumstances under which Loughner can be medicated to prepare him for trial.

Loughner, 22, stands accused of killing six people in a Jan. 8 shooting spree that wounded 13 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Loughner was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a federal hospital in Missouri to be restored to mental competency.

Prison officials began forcing Loughner to take anti-psychotic medications on June 21, claiming he was a danger to himself and others. However, Clarke and her legal team alleged that the prison was making an "end run" around case law requiring a court hearing on the matter. The District Court judge in the case allowed the medication to continue, prompting an appeal by Loughner's attorneys to the 9th Circuit.

After a contentious July 7 court hearing in which three federal appeals judges batted away arguments by lawyers on both sides, the court imposed an injunction on the prison doctors, suspending Loughner's medication pending litigation of the matter.

At issue are two U.S. Supreme Court opinions governing how prison inmates and pre-trial detainees may be forcibly medicated.

According to Thursday's filing, prison officials on July 19 resumed forcing Loughner to take oral doses of anti-psychotic drugs. Clarke argues that Loughner may be given sedatives to ease anxiety but may not be given drugs to treat the underlying mental illness, which would essentially be the treatment to restore him to competency.

In the pleadings, Clarke refers to prison records saying that Loughner is agitated, pacing incessantly and cannot sleep. He is kept on suicide watch, and his psychological condition is reportedly deteriorating, her motion says. Therefore, the prison officials determined that he was a danger to himself and needed to be medicated again.

Dr. Jack Potts, a forensic psychiatrist in Phoenix, said in an interview that paranoid schizophrenics, as Loughner has been diagnosed, are always treated with anti-psychotic drugs, whether they are facing criminal charges or functioning in society.

"It's the standard of care," Potts said. "The problem is that they're not going through the proper procedure."

Potts said that Loughner's condition is likely to deteriorate and that he is likely to suffer in prison while he is untreated.

"When you're crazy, the world's an awful place," Potts said. Confinement adds to the sense of isolation and paranoia, he said.

Clarke, Potts said, "is protecting his rights. He's innocent until proven guilty. But it's a shame, because he's a sick man."

Source

Court upholds forcing medication on Jared Loughner Defendant wept, screamed off drugs, documents say

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 23, 2011 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic

Tucson-area shooting defendant Jared Loughner paced in his cell, cried inconsolably and said he heard messages from the radio in recent days, according to documents filed in federal appeals court.

The revelations came in documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tucson, in response to a request by Loughner's attorneys to prevent him from being forcibly medicated.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant the defense's motion late Friday, allowing Loughner's anti-psychotic medication to be continued.

Loughner, 22, faces numerous federal charges stemming from the shooting deaths of six people and the wounding of 13 others in a Jan. 8 attack at a political event near Tucson. The event was held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was one of the wounded.

Loughner has since been diagnosed as schizophrenic and was judged mentally incompetent to stand trial. He has been sent to a federal prison hospital in Missouri for psychiatric treatment in an attempt to restore his mental state to a point where he can understand the legal proceedings against him.

Prison doctors and psychologists deemed him to be dangerous to himself and others, and the facility began forcing him to take anti-psychotic drugs.

Loughner's attorneys protested the forced medication, but it was upheld by a U.S. District Court judge.

They appealed to the 9th Circuit, which ordered the practice temporarily halted, and Loughner was taken off medication earlier this month.

The filing on Friday detailed what prosecutors called "the rapid deterioration of the defendant's physical and mental condition that occurred" after the medication was stopped.

It described observations of a psychologist treating Loughner:

- Loughner told another psychologist, "I feel different," she reported, and said that "the radio was talking to him and inserting thoughts into his mind."

- Loughner paced incessantly in his cell to the point where he appeared to be limping, the psychologist reported. He screamed and cried for hours and rocked back and forth in the shower or while sitting on his bed.

- "He also displayed hyper sexed behavior," the filing said, and talked inappropriately about sex with prison staff.

- He did not sleep or eat enough and appeared to be disoriented and confused.

- On July 13, Loughner told the psychologist: "I want to die. Give me the injection, kill me now."

The prison hospital began medicating Loughner again on July 19, saying he was at risk of committing suicide.

Loughner's attorneys again appealed to the 9th Circuit, prompting the response by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Ferg detailing Loughner's worsening behavior.

More articles on the Giffords Gabrielle shooting.