[Wavgbtif]

Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55698.html

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the man accused of attempting to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in January and killing six other people in the process is too mentally ill to stand trial — at least for now.

The hearing for shooting suspect Jared Loughner in Tucson federal court also produced some unexpected drama Wednesday after an outburst from the defendant led to him being ejected by federal marshals, press reports said.

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Burns ordered Loughner to be held in a prison hospital for up to four months, after which his competence to stand trial will be evaluated again, the newspaper said.

Burns ruled Loughner incompetent after receiving reports from a Bureau of Prisons psychologist and an independent psychiatrist who both found him to be schizophrenic. The defense and the prosecution had indicated in court filings that they did not plan to dispute the doctors’ findings.

The judge said Loughner has an irrational distrust of lawyers and believes there is a conspiracy to prevent him from getting a fair trial, the Star reported. He revealed recently that he had received two letters directly from Loughner discussing “attorney-client” issues.

The issue of Loughner’s competence to stand trial is separate, as a legal matter, from any effort he and his defense attorneys may make to argue that he was insane at the time of the Jan. 8 shooting in a Safeway supermarket parking lot.