In Arizona case, experts say planning undermines insanity plea
January 11, 2011 -- Updated 1429 GMT (2229 HKT)
Shooting heroes tell their stories
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Reports: A neighbor says the suspect's parents are devastated
- "Right now it is important as a community to pull together," a bishop says
- Nine-year-old victim's mother: "I hope people will look for hope, for change, for peace"
- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' remains in critical condition, doctors say
For more information, visit CNN affiliates KGUN, KOLD, KVOA, KPHO and KMSB. Read the federal charges against Jared Lee Loughner (PDF).
Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- The alleged shooter in Saturday's deadly Tucson massacre may have difficulty making the case for a successful insanity plea, experts said Tuesday.Jared Lee Loughner, 22, who authorities say shot up a gathering held by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, outside a supermarket, has been anecdotally regarded as very troubled and perhaps mentally unbalanced because of his ramblings spotted on the internet and the ways he has been described by acquaintances.
But Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor, and Jeff Gardere, a clinical and forensic psychologist, told CNN's American Morning Tuesday they have doubts that an insanity plea would stand.
With the "amount of planning that went into this assassination," Callan believes "it's highly unlikely he will meet the legal insanity defense threshold."
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How do you defend a shooting suspect? Gardere emphasized that "premeditation will work against him in this one as far as getting an insanity plea."
Judy Clarke, Loughner's defense attorney, has not broached this issue.
Court documents released Sunday show that investigators found a letter from Giffords in a safe at the house where Loughner lived with his parents, thanking him for attending a 2007 event, similar to Saturday's meet-and-greet.
"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.
A law enforcement official said Loughner asked Giffords a question at the 2007 event and was unhappy with her response.
"He never let it go," the source said. "It kept festering."
Loughner bought the Glock semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting back in November, and didn't fit any of the "prohibited possessor" categories that would have prevented the purchase.
He passed an instant federal background check. He tried to buy ammunition at a Wal-Mart store, abruptly left and made the purchase somewhere else.
Meanwhile, mourners will gather at a memorial Mass Tuesday for victims of the weekend shooting outside an Arizona supermarket that killed 6 people and wounded 14 others.
Loughner parents broken down, crying
Breaking down the Giffords shooting
Loughner's classmates speak out
Sheriff: Hard right 'fueling' the fire
"Right now it is important as a community to pull together and to reach out in care and concern to all who have been affected by this tragedy," Bishop Gerald Kicanas wrote Monday in a letter to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.
Loughner appeared in a Phoenix courtroom Monday to formally hear the charges against him -- including two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of attempting to kill a member of Congress.
Giffords, critically injured in the shooting after the gunman's bullet went through her brain, was in stable condition Monday, doctors said. And the authorities' investigation was "winding down," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.
Randy Loughner, the suspect's father, asked a neighbor to tell reporters camped outside the family's Tucson home Monday that he would eventually make a public statement.
"Right now he can't talk. He can't get out three words without crying," neighbor Wayne Smith told CNN affiliate KGUN.
Smith said the family had called him Monday and asked for help bringing in the mail at their home. Smith said Randy and Amy Loughner were devastated, but did not know why their son allegedly shot 20 people Saturday.
"They have no idea," Smith told CNN affiliate KVOA. "They're as blind on it as we are."
But details were still emerging from those who survived the deadly attack, those who lost loved ones in the shooting and those who knew the alleged gunman.
Former classmate Don Coorough said Loughner's demeanor immediately struck him the first time they met.
"He would use inappropriate emotional reactions. He would laugh at things that were sad. He just didn't seem to be aware of what was going on," Coorough told CNN.
Former classmate Steven Cates remembered Loughner frequently grinning and clenching his fists -- an expression that he said was similar to the mug shot photograph released by authorities Monday.
"That same look was the look that made people in class uncomfortable," he said.
Dr. Steven Rayle, who was at the political meet-and-greet Saturday when gunfire broke out, said he caught a glimpse of the gunman's face.
"He seemed very determined," he said.
Hours after Saturday's attack, Dupnik suggested that "vitriolic rhetoric" in political debates could have deadly consequences like the ones in Tucson.
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government; the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. Unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital," he said. "We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
His comments have fueled debate among politicians, calls for toning down rhetoric and concern about lawmakers' safety.
Longtime Giffords adviser Mike McNulty has faulted Giffords' opponents in last year's elections for stirring up emotions in the campaign to an unacceptable level.
"She is not just a centrist; she is the center. She is the fulcrum of American politics. She is what people fear there is no more of. People are fleeing the left and the right, and Gabby Giffords stands staunchly in the center. And here we have somebody who put a bullet in her brain. The center is in trouble," he told CNN's John King on Monday.
But John Green, the father of Christina Green -- the youngest victim of Saturday's attack -- said the shooting had nothing to do with politics.
"I think it's a random act of violence. I think some of it is media-driven, because people have begun to learn they can solve their problems and make a big splash," he said. "I don't want to politicize this thing. I want to remember our daughter. I want the country to remember our daughter."
His wife, Roxanna Green, said she wanted people to know that her daughter was brave and intelligent, and hoped others would follow her example.
"I hope people will look for hope, for change, for peace. That's what Christina would want. She wouldn't want us to be sad. She would just be like, 'Let's do something. Let's make this never ever happen again, so no one else has to get hurt,'" she said.
-CNN
Police: 'Enormously concerned' over girl's mysterious disappearance
Authorities are looking for leads in the disappearance of Phylicia Barnes, 16, who went missing in Baltimore.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Baltimore police "more and more freaked out "about girl's disappearance
- NEW: Dozens of interviews and 40 hours of video have yielded no clues
- Barnes disappeared December 28; police fear she may have been harmed or abducted
- Authorities are posting billboards along I-95 in search of leads
Read a local report on CNN affiliate WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(CNN) -- A 16-year-old North Carolina girl who disappeared while visiting family in Baltimore continues to be the object of an intense search by authorities, who now say they fear she was abducted or harmed."We are enormously concerned," Baltimore police spokesman Anthony J. Guglielmi said Friday. "Every day that passes we get more and more freaked out."
Phylicia Barnes, a Charlotte, North Carolina, resident who was in Baltimore to visit her college-age half-sister, was last seen December 28, after saying she was going out to get something to eat and maybe a haircut, Guglielmi said.
As recently as Tuesday, police said they had no evidence that foul play was involved in her disappearance.
But now they say she has not made contact with friends or family, and hasn't turned on her cell phone, used an ATM or updated her social media sites since she disappeared.
The FBI did a profile on the girl and found no reason she would run away, Guglielmi said. She is a good student with no emotional disturbances in her life, he said.
"The fact set of this case is different than anything else we've seen," he said.
More than 100 Baltimore police, Maryland State Police troopers and FBI agents have been working around the clock to find out what happened to Barnes, Guglielmi said.
Police have questioned a dozen people believed to have had contact with her in the hours before she disappeared, and have searched the homes and cars of some of those people, he said.
They also have collected 40 hours of video from surveillance cameras at nearby businesses and apartment buildings, but neither those videos nor searches conducted in two locations have helped give investigators any leads, Guglielmi said.
On Thursday, they turned to posting billboards along I-95 in hope of gathering information about the girl's fate.
"What's going to break this thing wide open is that somebody, whether it's (in) Kansas or Canada, is going to say, wait a minute, I just saw her in a diner," Guglielmi said Friday. "That's in the best case."
Although Guglielmi said there was no evidence of illegal drug use at the apartment, the girl's mother, Janice Sallis, said she has been told the girl may have been allowed to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at her half-sister's apartment, according to CNN and CNN affiliate WSOC.
Sallis said she had been told up to 20 men had come and gone while her daughter was there.
"I pray to God that my daughter is fine and she'll be found safe," Barnes' father, Russell Barnes, told CNN affiliate WBAL. "I hope people keep praying as high as they can and understand that this shouldn't happen to any child anywhere in this country."
Anyone with information on Barnes' disappearance can call 855-223-0033.
Eerie 'Lost' echoes in Mega Millions drawing
It paid to be a Lost fan Tuesday night. That is, it paid $150.Four of the six numbers drawn in the $355 million Mega Millions lottery matched the numbers immortalized by the Lost character Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, who hit a $114 million jackpot off them -- only to be haunted by the same numbers in later episodes.
Tuesday's Mega Millions numbers were 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and 42 (42 was the Mega Ball number).
Hurley's numbers were 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.
Unnerved watchers of the hit television show must have been left wondering whether the Dharma Initiative had a hand in the drawing.
If you played Hurley's numbers, you won $150, according to a payout table on the Mega Millions website, though the same table noted that fixed prizes such as the $150 one "may be paid on a pari-mutuel basis and (be) lower than" that amount.
Lottery fever spreads to RidicuList
David Workman, a spokesman for the Idaho Lottery, said he did not know where in his state the ticket was sold. Idaho began selling tickets on January 31, 2010.
"Idaho is a very lucky place," he added.
CNN's Scott Thompson contributed to this report.
Is Alec Baldwin interested in political office? The answer is 'yes'
Alec Baldwin ready to enter politics?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Baldwin stars in the NBC show "30 Rock"
- He has long flirted with running for political office
- Baldwin has expressed a similar interest in interviews with Playboy and "60 Minutes"Actor Alec Baldwin says he is "very, very interested" in running for political office but to leave acting would be "extremely painful."
Knowing Baldwin's long-running interest in politics, Eliot Spitzer asked him if he was ready to "get into this game."
"The answer is: Yes, it's something that I am very, very interested in," Baldwin said. "People would say to me all the time, 'Why would you want to do that?' And sometimes I don't want to do it because to leave what I am doing now would be extremely painful."
Baldwin, 52, told Spitzer he loves where he is in his acting career right now.
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"However, I do believe that people want to believe that someone, who deeply cares about the middle class ... would like to see public office."
This isn't the first time Baldwin has flirted with the notion of becoming a politician.
He told Playboy magazine over the summer that he was interested.
"The desire is there; that's one component. The other component is opportunity," said Baldwin, who descibes himself as a "carry-me-out-in-a-box New Yorker" and some ne unlikely to move to another state for a political opportunity.
"I have sometimes thought I could move to New Jersey or Connecticut and run. I'd love to run against Joe Lieberman. I have no use for him. But it's all fantasy"
Baldwin also told CBS news magazine "60 Minutes" in 2009 that running for political office is "something I might do one day."
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High price derails some U.S. bullet trains
In Watertown, Wisconsin, Mayor Ron Krueger stands where a proposed train station was to be built.
The loss of a total of $1.2 billion in high-speed rail funds in Wisconsin and Ohio means the promise of thousands of new jobs in those states will not be realized, according to proponents of the fast passenger trains.
The Obama administration wants to use large-scale infrastructure projects like high-speed rail to boost the economy much in the way that public works projects put people back to work during the Great Depression.
Mayor Ron Krueger was hoping a high-speed line that was planned to go through Watertown, Wisconsin, would spur development of retail and apartments in his town of about 23,000.
But some newly elected officials have put the brakes on those plans, raising questions about whether it's still possible to build big in the United States.
Citing two incoming governors' opposition to high-speed rail projects in the Midwest, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood redirected $810 million away from Wisconsin and $400 million from Ohio to other states. California is getting the lion's share, $624 million for its link between Los Angeles and San Francisco. $342 million is going to Florida with the remainder divided among Washington and 10 other states.
Is the U.S. turning a corner on high-speed rail?
Along with the money comes jobs. In Wisconsin, the outgoing governor Jim Doyle claimed over 4,700 jobs directly related to the high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison would have been realized at the height of construction.
Proponents claimed thousands of indirect jobs would have been created as a result of the projected economic growth along the line.
"Rail creates value," said Petra Todorovich at the Regional Plan Association, a transportation and public policy think tank in New York. She's the director of America 2050, a national initiative to meet the needs of the country over the next 40 years based on a projected population growth of 100 million. "It's a permanent investment both residential and commercial investors can look at. There are the construction jobs in working on the railroad," Todorovich said.
People in the area are also put to work building the locomotives and rail cars.
There are also indirect benefits that come with a new rail line, according to Todorovich. "There are jobs related through real estate and commercial investment. These are long-term jobs."
But Wisconsin's Republican Governor-elect Scott Walker said he has serious doubts about the projected job benefits related to the project. "The estimates, I think, are woefully optimistic."
Scott Walker campaigned on a promise to kill high-speed rail in Wisconsin, saying that it would leave the state with an annual operating cost of anywhere between $7.5 million and $15 million. "There are plenty of examples of federal Interstate Highway projects in the state of Wisconsin that have terrible, terrible needs right now that are being unmet that to me would be a much better use of transportation dollars," Walker said.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation said that up to 90% of the operating costs could have been covered by federal grants.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tried unsuccessfully to change Governor-elect Walker's mind before the funds were pulled. "There is no shortage of enthusiasm and energy in almost all 50 states in America for some form of high-speed inter-city rail," LaHood said.
Some of that enthusiasm was found in Florida which put out a request for proposals for a high-speed rail line to link Tampa with several locations in and around Orlando. Even though Florida received an additional $342 million from the Department of Transportation for the project, Governor-elect Rick Scott, a Republican, hasn't made up his mind on whether he'll allow it to proceed.
Scott has said he is concerned that the price tag for the line would exceed estimates. He is also concerned about operating costs, he said.
Florida's Department of Transportation claims close to 10,000 people would be employed in jobs directly related to the high-speed rail line during the height of construction and thousands more would be employed in indirect jobs.
Meanwhile, work is beginning on a section of a high-speed rail line in California that planners hope will one day link Los Angeles with San Francisco.
New York governor pauses 'fracking'
New York Gov. David Paterson, left, with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
(CNN) -- New York Gov. David Paterson has signed an executive order halting the controversial natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing until July 1.
The process --- also known as "fracking" -- has come under scrutiny because of its alleged harmful effects on underground drinking water and the environment -- although industry leaders have insisted it's safe.
The governor's order -- which was signed Saturday -- prohibits horizontal hydraulic fracturing in New York until the state Department of Environmental Conservation completes a comprehensive review.
-CNN
The process --- also known as "fracking" -- has come under scrutiny because of its alleged harmful effects on underground drinking water and the environment -- although industry leaders have insisted it's safe.
The governor's order -- which was signed Saturday -- prohibits horizontal hydraulic fracturing in New York until the state Department of Environmental Conservation completes a comprehensive review.
-CNN
