Jared Loughner to be sentenced for Tucson rampage

[struggle4progress]

Source: CBS

Updated at 12:27 p.m. ET

TUCSON, Ariz. ... Jared Lee Loughner, 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. Victim testimony began after that, led by Patricia Maisch, who spoke of 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green and her need for justice.

Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly are present in the courtroom, along with as many as nine other victims, including Col. Bill Badger, a retired Army officer who helped wrestle Loughner to the ground after being grazed by a bullet. At least three shooting victims have told The Associated Press that they intend to comment at the hearing.

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.

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 ...

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57546836/jared-loughner-to-be-sentenced-for-tucson-rampage/

[onehandle]

1. Legal gun owner. nt

[Atypical Liberal]

2. Nope. Lied on his 4473

Jared Loughner stated on his for 4473 that he was not "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, or narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?"

Loughner was described by classmates as a "left-wing pothead" and was rejected from the U.S. Army because he failed a drug test.

Jared Loughner broke the law when he purchased a firearm while providing false information on his 4473 form.

He then passed a NICS background check.

[struggle4progress]

3. ... he told an Army official that he smoked marijuana excessively — which meant

he would never be accepted. The weird part: he actually passed a drug test that day ...
The Troubled Life of Jared Loughner
By John Cloud Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2042358,00.html

[Atypical Liberal]

4. My googling indicated he failed a drug test.

It appears that the Army has changed its story.

There are numerous news accounts that cite an "anonymous Army official" that say he failed a drug test.

There are now also reports where the Army says he never got as far as a drug test because of his self-admitted drug use, though they cannot say what drugs he admitted to using.

In any case, it seems clear that he probably lied on the form 4473, and thus broke the law in buying a firearm.