Jared Loughner, the gunman accused of trying to assassinate a US congresswoman and killing six people in Tucson, pleaded not guilty to all 49 new charges against him on Wednesday.
He entered the pleas in his first court appearance in Tucson itself, after prosecutors announced new indictments against him last week in the Jan. 8 Arizona shooting spree targeting US Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
Sitting quietly during the hearing, the 22-year-old listened as the 49 counts including multiple murder charges were read to him.
In shackles and dressed in a tan prison jumpsuit, Loughner showed little reaction as Judge Larry Burns heard a lengthy argument seeking public access to records in the case.
Loughner smiled as he was led both in and out of the court room.
When a court official asked him: “Jared Lee Loughner, is that your true name?” he replied: “Yes, it is,” his voice soft but audible.
His lawyer Judy Clarke acknowledged the considerable time before Loughner’s trial would begin.
“We are still months away from trial, your honor,” said Clarke, whose past clients include the so-called Unabomber, jailed for life in 1998 after a 17-year campaign of parcel-bomb attacks that killed three people.
At least a few of the shooting victims, with members of their families beside them, looked on from the opposite side of the room, facing the defendant.
One of the victims, Suzi Hileman, 59, sat in a wheelchair and watched closely Loughner throughout the proceeding. She was shot three times in the incident, but is recovering.
Hileman was the neighborhood parent who brought nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green to the “Congress on Your Corner” event with Giffords where the shooting occurred. Green was one of the six victims who died in a hail of gunfire near the supermarket entrance.
The hearing also discussed Loughner’s mental competence to stand trial, and judge Burns ordered psychological tests to be carried out to determine if he was able to understand the charges against him.
Loughner was initially indicted in January on three counts of trying to kill Giffords and two of her aides in the shooting outside a supermarket, which also left a federal judge dead.
The new indictments, announced last Friday, include charges for the killing of Green, who was hailed as an inspiration by US President Barack Obama after the massacre.
In Wednesday’s hearing, judge Burns agreed in part to a request filed by local media to have access to evidence gathered under search warrants, and court records.
Previous hearings had been held in the state capital, Phoenix. Arizona judges were disqualified from hearing the case, because one of their colleagues was among those killed. Judge Burns is from California.
Giffords is continuing her recovery in Texas, where she was moved to a rehabilitation center after her initial intensive care treatment in Tucson.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was