Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner's mental health is not significantly improving despite nine weeks of taking psychotropic medications, his attorneys said in a recent filing.
In five areas where a prison psychologist claimed Loughner is improving, evidence compiled by other prison staff members show he is not, they say.
The defense argument is intended to sway a judge's decision as to whether prison officials should be given four or more months to restore him to competency. Prosecutors said in a filing on Friday they plan to ask U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns to order Loughner to spend eight more months at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo. That, prosecutors said, is what psychologist Christina Pietz said she will recommend when she is called to testify.
The hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday, is likely to be postponed.
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Defense attorneys say a Sept. 7 report on Loughner's progress asserts that he is improving, but records kept daily by the prison's staff show otherwise.
The progress report says Loughner stopped losing weight after he was forced to take psychotropic medications beginning July 18 and had gained back 9 pounds, the defense filing says. But even before the report was written, Loughner had lost the same amount of weight again.
"This notion - that the medications cured Mr. Loughner's weight loss - is contradicted by the evidence," they wrote.
The report also says that over the past few weeks, Loughner had gained the ability to "converse in an organized, rational manner," according to the defense filing. But prison records show numerous instances in which Loughner could not, the defense says - even one that occurred the day before the progress report was filed.
"On September 6, a nurse noted that: 'When questions (are) asked, inmate (Loughner) turns around and walks away. Appeared initially to say something, but inaudible, even when repeated."
The pattern followed with respect to Loughner's ability to maintain eye contact, his habit of pacing and his lack of sleep, the defense says. While the report claims improvement, prison records show otherwise.
The one area where the defense acknowledged improvement is a decrease of Loughner's hallucinations, but they said he remains delusional.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting spree at a Tucson political gathering that killed six and wounded 13 people, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Contact reporter Tim Steller at 807-8427 or at tsteller@azstarnet.com
