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Jared Loughner faces Tucson rampage victims
Jared Lee Loughner is seen in these undated booking photos provided by the U.S. Marshals Service. / U.S. Marshals Service
Updated at 2:09 p.m. ET
TUCSON, Ariz. The man who went on a shooting rampage in Arizona last year that left six people dead and 13 others wounded is in court Thursday facing his victims, including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, for the first time before being sentenced.
Jared Lee Loughner, who pleaded guilty to the January 2011 attack at a Giffords political event outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store, was led into the courtroom in shackles. He declined to make a statement when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns as the hearing got underway, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. But that didn't stop victims of that day from speaking their mind.
Mark Kelly, Giffords' husband who spoke on her behalf, told Loughner "you may have put a bullet through her head but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place." p>
"Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered," Kelly said at Loughner's sentencing. "Every day is a continuous stuggle to do those things she once was so good at."
Loughner showed no emotion, and looked at the other victims. His mother sobbed nearby.
Kelly also took aim at state politicians over the issue of gun control, saying the "political class ignores white elephant of gun violence," singling out Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and the state legislature for saying guns not the problem.
The 24-year-old pleaded guilty three months ago to 19 federal charges under an agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The deal calls for the dismissal of 30 other charges and a sentence of seven consecutive life terms, followed by 140 years in prison.
Arizona gunman Jared Loughner
Both sides reached the deal after a judge declared that Loughner was able to understand the charges against him. After the shooting, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and underwent forcible psychotropic drug treatments.
Some victims, including Giffords, welcomed the deal as a way to move on. It spared victims and their families from having to go through a potentially lengthy and traumatic trial and locks up the defendant for life.
Suzi Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her 9-year-old neighbor, addressed Loughner directly, saying "I have wanted to take you by the shoulders and shake you. But it wouldn't do any good."
"We've been told about your demons, about the illness that skewed your thinking," said Hileman, at times visibly shaking, to Loughner. "Your parents, your schools, your community, they all failed you.
"It's all true," Hileman said. "It's not enough."
"You pointed a weapon and shot me three times," she said, staring directly at Loughner. He looked back at her. "And now I walked out of this courtroom and into the rest of my life and I won't think of you again."
Christina Pietz, the court-appointed psychologist who treated Loughner, had warned that although Loughner was competent to plead guilty, he remained severely mentally ill and his condition could deteriorate under the stress of a trial.
When Loughner first arrived at a Missouri prison facility for treatment, he was convinced Giffords was dead, even though he was shown a video of the shooting. He eventually realized she was alive after he was forcibly medicated.
It's unknown whether Pima County prosecutors, who have discretion on whether to seek the death penalty against Loughner, will file state charges against him. Stephanie Coronado, a spokeswoman for Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, said Wednesday that no decision had been made.
It's unclear where Loughner will be sent to serve his federal sentence. He could return to a prison medical facility like the one in Springfield, Mo., where he's been treated for more than a year. Or he could end up in a prison such as the federal lockup in Florence, Colo., that houses some of the country's most notorious criminals, including Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski.
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Who needs Darwin's theories? Loughner is a psychopath. Let justice take its course - he won't emote either way.
The United States is a wonderful nation but as it matures there are more and more instances of waste. Waste of time, waste of money, waste of resources, and waste of sanity. Look at how convoluted our laws are, our courts are a joke, the attorneys are more criminal than a lot of the people they serve and it has begun to get embarrassing! Third world countries justice systems often makes more sense than ours, one criminal, one crime, one sentence (often with a bullet in the offender's skull)! No trying him for 117 crimes, at $120,000 a pop and a multitude of attorneys figuring out if he indeed took out some guys finger or was it already damaged from a work incident!!
Mind control through substances is possible and was ...The events of sought control from the research I have done for a Book I am writing trying to complete, such events did take place..thus was done with very carefully picked people that One did not know anything about the matter . the base core of such is nothing more then suggestions, put into a state of hypnosis played on the views of faith as like Gods Speaking to a person. thus people being tested was lied to and told its was mental IIness, Some of the trials done was done with metal tubes in the ears or or the use of say Amalgam in the teeth playing with the tones and signal hertz, Drugs was used to help the matters along, such things as simpe as putting micro phones in things in rooms where the subject was made to very easy to then keep such ruses going... latter years LSD was used in the cold war trial not to for the mis use of 'Psychic Warfare Yes it was done, The Nazis used such in creation of parts of what become the S.S. an other nations did the same things . if you have cell phone your using something that was aprt of many many abused people... There was a movie not long ago done that has some back ground with such history --- not limited to Valkyrie
But the problem is if you believe that, then why get upset that anyone murders anyone else??? Aren't we all just an accident of time and proper conditions in an immense universe??? A bunch of "apes" that just happened to have figured out how to build cars??? And emotions, what about those? Morals? Human rights? they are all just illusion... or how our evolved brains perceive certain stimuli coupled with a "cultural evolution" from our "social interaction".... so whats it matter !?!?!?! If abortion is fine just because the mother has a "good" excuse or justification, then why is wrong to abort a more mature/grown ape/man/woman ?!?!
Your comment makes me want to break out some of my old textbooks to try and understand why anyone would consider it ok to kill a child...., but not a child killer...
But the problem is if you believe that, then why get upset that anyone murders anyone else??? Aren't we all just an accident of time and proper conditions in an immense universe??? A bunch of "apes" that just happened to have figured out how to build cars??? And emotions, what about those? Morals? Human rights? they are all just illusion... or how our evolved brains perceive certain stimuli coupled with a "cultural evolution" from our "social interaction".... so whats it matter !?!?!?! If abortion is fine just because the mother has a "good" excuse or justification, then why is wrong to abort a more mature/grown ape/man/woman ?!?!