Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of attempting to kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this year,

Mr Loughner, 22, was found by Judge Larry Burns to be “mentally incompetent” to take part in a trial and assist with his own defence, during a hearing Tucson on Wednesday.
At one point he was dragged out of the courtroom by US marshalls, after an outburst in which he shouted: “She died in front of me” and “Thank you for the freak show”.
He is charged with 49 counts relating to the shooting spree at a meet-the-voters event hosted by Miss Giffords in a supermarket carpark on January 8.
The Democratic congresswoman, 40, was shot through the head but is recovering in a rehabilitation centre. Six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed and 12 others injured.
Mr Loughner, who is described by his lawyers as a “gravely mentally ill man”, denies all the charges. He could face the death penalty if he stands trial and is convicted.

 

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Frank T. Gonzales was pronounced dead at a hospital after he showed up at a home in the 700 block of East 35th Street bleeding profusely

Frank T. Gonzales was pronounced dead at a hospital after he showed up at a home in the 700 block of East 35th Street bleeding profusely and asking for help, police said. Gonzales did not live in the neighborhood and did not know the person who lived at the home, police said. It is believed the crime occurred elsewhere.
The resident of the home called 911 around 12:30 p.m. and Gonzales was taken to a hospital. Gang detectives were working Friday to develop suspect information, according to a news release. The gang unit is handling the case because the victim had gang ties, although police would not say that the killing was gang-motivated, according to Officer Linda Galindo, a police spokeswoman.
Anyone with information

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Sgt. Tom Lovejoy claims MCSO officials illegally prevented him from gathering evidence for his own defense.

Since Sgt. Tom Lovejoy’s acquittal last week on misdemeanor animal-cruelty charges, in which a judge concluded “it was simply an accident”, the embattled sergeant has retained attorney Michael Manning who has won previous high-profile cases against the sheriff. Lovejoy claims MCSO officials illegally prevented him from gathering evidence for his own defense. “I have no problem accepting the fact we did go to court and had a trial,” Sgt. Lovejoy said. “That’s not the issue that I have. The issue is what I learned throughout this ordeal of the level of corruption inside the sheriff’s department.”
The most specific allegation involves transcripts of a phone conversation last September between Sgt. Lovejoy’s wife Carolynn and MCSO Deputy Chief Dave Trombi.
Carolynn Lovejoy claims Trombi changed the text of their telephone conversation that was later submitted as evidence. “He took little things of what I said and put them into a different meaning or context and then it looked really bad. He was just trying to discredit us,” Carolynn Lovejoy said. According to Lovejoy, court records prove Trombi kept an audio tape recording of the conversation. But she says the sheriff’s office will not release the audio tape, despite a public records request by Lovejoy’s attorney dating back to last year. The sheriff’s office did not respond to questions by 12 News about the allegation. Another allegation by Lovejoy involves the conduct by the sheriff’s public relations office. Lovejoy describes a series of back-and-forth legal battles to obtain public records pertinent to him receiving a fair trial. “I think their strategy was to bankrupt me with attorney’s fees and hope I would go away,” Lovejoy said. They say some of the records sought would help establish whether Arpaio administered “selective enforcement.” Arpaio arrested Lovejoy on a charge involving “wreckless neglect” but chose not to investigate K-9 deaths within the sheriff’s own office in past years, according to Tom Lovejoy.
Lovejoy says anonymous sources notified him of three specific cases where deputy K-9’s died under suspicious circumstances. But when Lovejoy’s previous attorney filed a public records request for information involving any and all K-9 deaths, “mysteriously their information on (the three MSCO K-9 incidents) was not included,” Lovejoy said. Lovejoy claims MCSO only released K-9 documents after his previous attorney proved he had prior specific knowledge of the 3 deaths. Under public records law, government agencies are required to release all requested documents in a timely manner, with few exceptions. According to Lovejoy, the records showed that MCSO did not investigate the incidents on even a basic level.
Deputy Chief Trombi responded to the allegation in a letter to the editor of Thursday’s Arizona Republic. Trombi writes, “Ludicrous allegations of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office canine deaths ‘not being investigated’ are just that. Sheriff’s investigative reports containing detailed information of these deaths were turned over to Lovejoy’s attorney.” Tom Lovejoy insists no such records of an investigation exist.
“The lies that are told out of the public information office are just appalling,” Lovejoy said

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Lil Wayne appeared in an Arizona courtroom

Lil Wayne appeared in an Arizona courtroom on Tuesday (May 6) to answer to several drug charges, stemming from an arrest in January.He has maintained since that arrest, the rapper entered a not guilty plea on charges of multiple drug possession charges -- three being felonies -- and a misconduct involving weapons charge.He is scheduled to appear back in court on May 19.Weezy was arrested at in late January, following a search of his tour bus during a routine stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of Yuma, Arizona.During the stop, DEA found numerous narcotics -- including 105 grams of marijuana, 29 grams of cocaine and 41 grams of ecstasy -- and a 40-caliber pistol registered to the rapper.Wayne's legal team filed a motion in March asking for a lesser drug charge, claiming the amount of cocaine (29 grams) was incorrect. They claim that the rapper had fewer than eight grams of coke.He was subsequently arrested, along with two others, and booked into the Yuma County Sheriff's Department.A day after his arrest, he posted $10,000 bond and is currently free pending the outcome of his case

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George Iknadosian knowingly sold at least 650 firearms, including high-end semiautomatic pistols and assault-style rifles, to drug cartels

George Iknadosian, 46, knowingly sold at least 650 firearms, including high-end semiautomatic pistols and assault-style rifles, to drug cartels, the ATF said.arrest of a gun shop owner on Tuesday broke up a suspected firearms trafficking operation that supplied violent Mexican drug cartels, authorities said.
Agents raided X Calibur Guns and arrested George Iknadosian after undercover agents bought guns at the store indicating they were to be trafficked to Mexico, said Carlos Baixauli, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The investigation began 11 months ago after some guns involved in crimes in Mexico were traced to X Caliber Guns in Phoenix, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.Also arrested were two Mexican brothers who are accused of recruiting "straw buyers" to purchase weapons at X Calibur Guns that would then be trafficked to the drug cartels.Hugo Gamez, 26, and Cesar Gamez, 28, were legally living in the Phoenix metro area, but Baixauli said the brothers worked for a major Mexican drug cartel."This is not just taking guns to Mexico," Phoenix police Asst. Chief Andy Anderson said. "This is putting guns in the hands of drug dealers and human smugglers ... This is a despicable crime."The three men in custody face charges including conducting an illegal enterprise, misconduct involving weapons, money laundering, forgery and fraudulent schemes. It wasn't clear whether they had lawyers."The bottom line is illegal gun trafficking is not only destroying Mexico, but some of these guns may get back to the United States," Baixauli said. "It puts our law enforcement officers in danger, and in Mexico, it decimates law enforcement."

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