"The decision by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns means 21-year-old Jared Lee Loughner will be sent to a federal facility for up to four months in a bid to restore his competency.
Wednesday's ruling comes after Loughner spent five weeks in March and April at a federal facility in Missouri, where he was examined by two court-appointed mental health professionals."
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to the accusations that he killed 6 and injured 12 in a shooting fling at a shopping mall January 8. His lawyers haven't explicitly said they would follow up on an insanity defense at trial, but based on old filings it's clear that would compile a major part of their defense.
There has been no populace release of the competency reports from the mental health experts who worked with Loughner in Missouri, but intelligibly they found him unfit to stand trial. I'm not sure another four months will change that expectation.
Giffords remains under treatment for her injuries and recently had skull surgery.
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