Judge Rules Doctors Can Forcibly Medicate Loughner
“I have no reason to disagree with doctors. I didn’t go to medical school.”
| Posted Thursday, June 30, 2011, at 10:10 AM ET
A federal judged on Wednesday ruled that doctors can force Jared Lee Loughner to take antipsychotic drugs in an effort to make him fit to stand trial for the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others.
“I defer to medical doctors,” U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said at an emergency hearing requested by Loughner’s lawyers, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I have no reason to disagree with doctors. I didn’t go to medical school.”
Loughner faces 49 felony charges in connection with the January shooting spree that killed six and injured more than a dozen others, including Giffords, and could face the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty.
Loughner has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and, last month, was found mentally unfit to stand trial. He is currently being held at a federal facility in Missouri, where doctors are hoping to restore his competency.
[For more on how doctors make someone fit to stand trial, check out Slate’s Explainer on the topic.]
According to defense lawyers, doctors have been forcibly giving Loughner medication since June 21. The defense has asked that restraints or isolation be used as treatment instead.
Burns has twice rejected Loughner’s lawyers’ requests that they be notified before he is given drugs.
Additional details of Loughner’s recent erratic behavior also emerged Wednesday. The Times reports:
In court filings, prosecutors detailed Loughner's outbursts while incarcerated: spitting at his lead attorney, Judy Clarke; cursing and throwing a chair at a psychiatrist; and throwing a wet roll of toilet paper at a camera.
An federal attorney told the court that Loughner posed a danger to his fellow inmates and to staff. “This is a person who is a ticking time bomb,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst.
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