SAN FRANCISCO?? A U.S. appeals court panel wrestled on Tuesday with whether Tucson shooting rampage suspect Jared Loughner should be compelled to undergo further psychiatric treatment at a Missouri prison hospital.
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Loughner, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 49 criminal charges, including first-degree murder, stemming from the January shooting spree that killed six people and wounded 13 others, among them U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
The Arizona Democrat, who was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket at the time, was shot through the head and is still recovering.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns declared Loughner mentally incompetent in May, citing the conclusions of two medical experts who said he suffered from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions.
Then in September, Burns granted a government request for an additional four months to restore Loughner's fitness so he can stand trial. Loughner's attorneys are seeking to overturn that decision.
The two sides argued their case on Tuesday at hearing in San Francisco before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the hearing, the judges sought to ascertain whether continuing to forcibly medicate Loughner with anti-psychotic drugs -- a practice opposed by the defense but which Burns has on three occasions declined to halt -- would interfere with his ability to assist in his own defense.
"If the side effects have caused that, wouldn't the government be in a position where they could not try him?" appeals Judge J. Clifford Wallace asked.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Cabanillas said Burns had left the door open for that matter to be determined at a later time.
Judges Marsha Berzon and Jay Bybee asked why Loughner's attorneys had not presented any witnesses at a hearing before Burns on extending the treatment deadline.
Defense lawyer Ellis Johnston III responded that it was the government's burden to prove his client should be sent back to Missouri. The federal Bureau of Prisons should provide a treatment plan to the court, Johnston said, and a court should be allowed to review it.
"What Mr. Loughner wants is to not be forcibly medicated," Johnston said.
No decision was announced from the bench, and the judges did not indicate when they would rule.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41047576/ns/us_news/
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