U.S. Cites Evidence of Assassination Plot

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

TUCSON-- Prosecutors accused Jared Lee Loughner, a troubled 22-year-old college dropout, of five serious federal charges on Sunday, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, for his role in a shootout that left 20 people wounded, six of them fatally, on Saturday morning.

Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix indicated that evidence seized from Mr. Loughner's home showed that he had planned to kill Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Found in Mr. Loughner's home, F.B.I. special agent Tony M. Tayler Jr. said in an affidavit supporting the charges, was an envelope with the handwritten words, "I planned ahead," "My assassination," and "Giffords."

The details of the envelope were not disclosed.Besides being accused of deliberating trying to take Ms. Giffords' life, Mr. Loughner was charged with the killing and attempted killing of four United States government officials, among them U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, who was killed; congressional aide Gabriel Zimmerman, also killed; and congressional aides Pamela Simon and Ron Barber, who were wounded.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/politics/10giffords.html?_r=1&hp

---

The federal complaint outlines discoveries from the investigation since the shooting on Saturday. In a search of Mr. Loughner's home, authorities found a note in a safe with a handwritten note saying, "I planned ahead," "My assassination," and "Giffords," as well as what appears to be Mr. Loughner's signature. Investigators also found a note, dated Aug. 30, 2007, addressed to "Mr. Jared Loughney" from Ms. Giffords's office thanking him for attending a "Congress in Your Corner" event in Tucson.

The complaint also details how Judge Roll came to be at the event. He received a call about it on Friday, and he came to speak to Ms. Giffords about the volume of cases at his federal district court -- bearing out the hypothesis offered by his colleague, Judge Alex Kozinski, to The Times's John Schwartz.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/live-blog-latest-developments-on-arizona-shooting/?hp

pdf of complaint. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/PR_01092011_Loughner.pdf

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Kurovski]

2. Kick. (nt)

[teach1st]

3. Arizona massacre suspect: 'I planned ahead'

Source: CNN

CNN) -- The suspect in the weekend massacre in Arizona scrawled "my assassination" and "I planned ahead" on an envelope found in his home, according to court documents released Sunday.

The details were part of criminal complaint filed against 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, the Tucson man now charged in Saturday's bloodbath at a supermarket where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was hosting an open house for constituents. Investigators found a letter from the congresswoman in a safe at the house where Loughner lived with his parents, thanking him for attending a similar 2007 event, a federal agent's affidavit states.

"Also recovered in the safe was an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating 'I planned ahead,' and 'my assassination' and the name 'Giffords,' along with what appears to be Loughner's signature," the affidavit states.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/09/arizona.shooting.investigation/index.html?iref=NS1

[dkf]

4. He kept Gifford's letter in a safe?

Weird.

[glinda]

6. My guess is that he wanted it to be found.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[elocs]

9. Right, because that is exactly what Republicans would want to do with the mentally ill. n/t

[queerart]

10. I Guess I would Agree With Mental Illness.....

But it seems a bit of a stretch when one plans in detail....


Don't the mentally ill simply cut loose, and do what ever comes into their mind?


Where is the line drawn? It is of no surprise that "mental illness" was going to be mentioned in this case. We as humans find it hard to understand what he did... so alas, it must be mental illness.... and when I called him "a mad dog"... I didn't suggest it in the sense of mental illness. He seems to have had a drive to hurt others... so is it "meanness"... or is it "mental illness"?


How does one suss out pure directed hate from mental illness?

[Posteritatis]

19. Not treating the two as synonymous might be a start.

Not treating "mental illness" as a monolith would be nice, too.

[queerart]

33. Thought I Would Share A Video With You....

It has much to do with guns... but absolutely nothing to do with mental illness.....


... and in the end..... has everything to do with "hate".........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miULdI-qocg&feature=player_embedded

[Ptah]

20. I'm not sure, but I think this evidence demonstrates intent

:shrug:

[queerart]

25. I'm Not Exactly Clear Here.....

Do you mean that you are thinking he is just a bad seed....


Or that he did all of this due to mental illness?

[Ptah]

26. I meant to say this shows premeditation.

I think that denies his chance to plead insanity.

Just guessing.

:shrug:

[queerart]

27. Thanks....

... and I couldn't agree more with you.....


You are right..... without a doubt....

[lilyrl]

35. I don't think premeditation necessarily proves that this wasn't done in the throes of insanity

From what I read, the guy thought letters and words were a form of governmental control....

Given the importance that he placed on language and the coding of language, a letter from a government official might have all kinds of symbolic meanings and importance and could have been keeping it in the safe as a form of protection or safeguard...You have no idea if he kept the letter to be found....

I certainly don't know enough details to make an ascertation that this wasn't a total act of insanity...and neither do any of you.

I think we should leave it to the experts on this one.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Mental illness, including psychosis, is not in itself sufficient

for an NGRI finding.

I was going to write my version of all this, but instead found a handy explanation from PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/crime/trial/faqs.html


Each state, and the District of Columbia, has its own statute setting out the standard for determining whether a defendant was legally insane, and therefore not responsible, at the time his crime was committed. In general, the standards fall into two categories.

About half of the states follow the "M'Naughten" rule, based on the 1843 British case of Daniel M'Naughten, a deranged woodcutter who attempted to assassinate the prime minister. He was acquitted, and the resulting standard is still used in 26 states in the U.S.: A defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity if "at the time of committing the act, he was laboring under such a defect of reason from disease of the mind as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong." (emphasis added) This test is also commonly referred to as the "right/wrong" test.

Twenty-two jurisdictions use some variation of the Model Standard set out by the American Law Institute (A.L.I.) in 1962. Under the A.L.I. rule, a defendant is not held criminally responsible "if at the time of his conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness) of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law." (emphasis added) The A.L.I. rule is generally considered to be less restrictive than the M'Naughten rule.

Some states that use the M'Naughten rule have modified it to include a provision for a defendant suffering under "an irresistible impulse" which prevents him from being able to stop himself from committing an act that he knows is wrong.

[queerart]

24. Thanks For That My Friend.... n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

28. There is no reason to imagine this guy would meet an ALI

standard let alone a M'Naughten standard. In fact, NGRIs are quite rare--much more so than the general public seems to believe.

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. "But it seems a bit of a stretch when one plans in detail..."

Mental illness comes in many forms, stereotypes are not helpful in understanding this fact.

think Ted Bundy.In fact, think any serial killer who managed to elude police for years.

Many people fit definitions of "crazy" who are very intelligent, very organized and very very delusional, or very compulsive. Many do not harm anyone.
Some do.

[niceypoo]

7. Assassination?

I wonder what planted that idea in his head?

[golfguru]

8. One of his favorite books is Hitler's MeinKampf

and the congresswoman is Jewish.

[GSLevel9]

11. and Animal Farm where humans are the enemy. Just sayin. nt

[NutmegYankee]

22. We the Living is an Ayn Rand anti-communist book

This guy is all over the place.

[golfguru]

37. I recall he also read the communist manifesto

you are right, this guy is all over the place.

[PufPuf23]

12. One hopes and should expect that LE has his computer and any

computer and cell phone use in general to see if the shooter has direct human influence.

One sees the shooter portrayed in the M$M as a long hair pot smoking mental patient but his written rhetoric is Ron Paul / white militia / kill a D representitive and go out a martyr (a measure of the dysfunction and insanity rampant from our institutions).

The local Sheriff seems the adult and honest voice.

The cognitive dissonance of government and media reporting thunders plus the sparkly media item for several days right when the new Congress is seated.

[ThomThom]

15. red necks smoke pot too

some even grow it for cash income on the farm

[Xipe Totec]

13. Bye bye, insanity defense...

The Federal Insanity Defense Reform Act

The Federal Insanity Defense Reform Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. s. 17, holds: "It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under any Federal STATUTE that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts. Mental disease or defect does not otherwise constitute a defense." This act, a response to the Hinckley verdict, eliminated the irresistible impulse test from the insanity defense under federal law. The act also provided that "the defendant has the burden of proving the defense of insanity by clear and convincing evidence." Previously under federal law, the government had the burden of proving sanity.

...

Current Status of the Insanity Defense among the States

The following list gives the status of the insanity defense in all 50 states, describes the test used, the party on whom the burden of proof lies, and whether the state uses the guilty but mentally ill verdict.

ARIZONA: M'Naghten Rule, burden of proof on defendant.

...

The M'Naghten rule states: "Every man is to be presumed to be sane, and . . . that to establish a defense on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved that, at the time of the committing of the act, the party ACCUSED was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing; or if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong. "


http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/insanity-defense

[joshcryer]

17. Nice find.

[DallasNE]

30. State Of Mind

This guy is wired much like Timothy McVeigh. His words and actions are not the words and actions of the broad spectrum of the public but he is certainly well aware of what he is doing and that applies to both before and after the rampage -- after all, he is not cooperating with authorities. A mind warped by outside influences, yes, but not the mind of a complete nut job like the Unibomber.

[keepCAblue]

14. So what happened to the "50-year-old white male" accomplice?

Yesterday's news reported witnesses seeing Loughner arriving in a vehicle driven by a 50 y.o. white male who was later seen running from the scene after Loughner began his shooting spree.

[joshcryer]

16. Taxi cab driver.

You'd run too if you heard shooting (though I never heard the report of a second person running).

[LisaL]

38. It was a taxi driver who had been cleared of any involvement.

[Peace Patriot]

18. No sane person writes "my assassination," puts it in a safe and goes out and assassinates someone

(many). But a brainwashed zombie might.

If his Facebook posts are any clue, that's what he is--brainwashed. And I don't mean propagandized. I mean, literally, brainwashed--maybe one of the techniques that were being tried out at Guantanamo Bay or other torture dungeons. He cannot hold two thoughts together. His mind has been messed with.

That's my take--on what little info there is, at this point.

[The abyss]

32. As always good observation!

[onenote]

36. I thought his FB pages had turned out to be fakes?

[Recursion]

39. Huh?

I mean, I might agree that no sane person assassinates anyone, but for the most part I would think a political assassin wants notoriety.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IamK]

34. he is going to cook for killing the judge.... its a done deal in Az...

[gvstn]

29. 'my assassination'

There it is in his own words. I hope the MSM starts reporting the story correctly, the Arizona assassination attempt on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. It wasn't another mass killing. It was an assassination attempt and he has been charged with that crime.

All the clowns on teevee that say it wasn't political are wrong. They want to spin the story as if they had no culpability. They did/do have culpability. They played up the vitriol for ratings and a damaged man took the ideas to fruition.

Where is Condi Rice to tell us that "No one could have predicted"? Oh right, Gabrielle Giffords is on tape, from earlier this past year, predicting that indeed words will have consequences. :(

[TheWraith]

31. Well, apparently he wanted it to be easy for the DA to prove premeditation.

Also it seems, proof that he wasn't simply delusional.