"Loughner plea deal involves some risk," is the Arizona Republic report by Michael Kiefer.
The evidence against Jared Loughner in the mass shooting in Tucson last year is overwhelming, and if he were tried and found guilty, a jury could sentence him to death.
Still, sources close to the case said Saturday that a possible deal is in the works in which Loughner would plead guilty and be sentenced to life in prison. News reports said Loughner, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic, is now competent to stand trial, although a federal judge would have to approve.
The news raised questions about why federal prosecutors would weigh such a deal in a high-profile crime that claimed the lives of six, wounded 13 and outraged the nation. Federal and state prosecutors have sought the death penalty for defendants accused of murdering even one person.
And:
Loughner's struggles with mental health have played out in court and in court filings. He exploded in one of his early hearings in U.S. District Court. His lead attorney, Judy Clarke, whose specialty as an attorney is in keeping high-profile defendants off death row, argued against his forcible medication and the matter went to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which eventually allowed the medicating. Clarke maintained that the drugs used to control his schizophrenia could also deaden his personality and feelings so as to affect his appearance at trial and negatively influence a jury.
"If Loughner is competent now, the question is whether he can remain competent during the stress of a lengthy trial," said Dale Baich, assistant federal public defender in Phoenix, who specializes in death-penalty appeals in federal court but is not involved in Loughner's defense.
Just as Clarke wants to save Loughner from being executed, federal prosecutors, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst, may want to cut off the risk that a jury would find Loughner not guilty by reason of insanity.
"Competence Was Linchpin for Both Sides in Tucson Case," is the New York Times report by Fernanda Santos.
From the outset, the case against Jared L. Loughner carried risks for both the prosecution and the defense.
Legal experts said there was ample evidence to prove that Mr. Loughner was the man behind last year’s shooting rampage in Tucson, which killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Gabrielle Giffords, a member of the House of Representatives who was holding a constituent event in the parking lot of a supermarket.
But a conviction was far from certain. Even if Mr. Loughner was deemed legally sane to stand trial, jurors could conclude that he was not when the shootings occurred, the legal experts said.
His lawyers were hoping to push for an insanity defense, but if convicted, Mr. Loughner, 23, would most likely face a death sentence. Instead, he is scheduled to plead guilty on Tuesday, after psychiatric evaluations and notes from his court-ordered treatment at a federal psychiatric hospital in Springfield, Mo., established that he was fit to stand trial, according to two people briefed on the developments who were granted anonymity to discuss a legal proceeding.
The plea would bring an abrupt resolution to a case that for some time seemed ensnarled in doubts over Mr. Loughner’s mental health and a seemingly steadfast resolve among prosecutors to bring him to trial.
“I think everybody concluded it’s a better resolution,” said A. Bates Butler III, a former federal lawyer in Arizona who has been closely following the case.
A plea deal would carry none of the costs, dangers or emotional toll of a trial, he said, and would probably spare Mr. Loughner from the death penalty.
The case is referenced in this post.
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