CHRISTINA TAYLOR GREENE -9 yo- Tucson AZ

Christina Taylor Green, September 11, 2001 - January 8, 2011

Christina Taylor Green was born on September 11, 2001. She died in another public display of violence on January 8, 2011.

She was shot in Tucson, along with 19 other people, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Five victims died at the scene. Of the six fatalities, only Christina died at the hospital. Her uncle Greg Segalini said she took a bullet in the chest.

The 9-year-old girl had accompanied a neighbor to the "town hall" event in a supermarket parking lot because she wanted to meet Gabrielle Giffords. Christina was newly elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School.

read more

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/09/christina-taylor-greene-september-11-2001-january-8-2011/

Under typical circumstances we wouldn't necessarily cover victims of street violence but this incident is far and away from the norm.
How totally sad for her family...

A funeral service will be held Thursday
for 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, one of six people killed
Saturday in Tucson during the attempted assassination of U.S. Gabrielle
Giffords.The service will begin at 1 p.m. MT (3 p.m. ET) at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Tucson.

Christina, who was born Sept. 11, 2001, had shown political aspirations,
which was why she was outside the Safeway market at Giffords'
meet-and-greet. She had been elected recently to the student council at
Mesa Verde Elementary School.State charges for her killing are pending against Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old suspect who appeared today in federal court.

08/04/2012

Jared Lee Loughner will plead guilty to the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona that killed 6 and injured 13, the LA Times reports.


The victims of the January 8th shooting included then-Congresswoman
Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who was speaking to constituents at public
event. Loughner had previously pleaded not guilty.


According to the Associated Press,
a court-appointed psychiatrist will testify on Tuesday that Loughner is
fit to stand trial. Loughner's guilty plea would result in a sentence
of life in prison, a source told the AP.


The Wall Street Journal and Fox News also reported that Loughner will plead guilty.


Loughner has been charged
with 49 counts, including murder and attempted assassination of a
member of Congress. Among those killed was a federal judge, an aide to
Giffords and 9-year-old girl.


Giffords suffered severe brain injuries that damaged her abilities to speak and move. After months of rehabilitation, she returned to Congress in August 2011 to vote on the debt ceiling bill. In January 2012, she announced her resignation.


The shooting has sparked a debate about gun laws in Arizona and across the nation. Critics say that Loughner, who had two previous offenses and a history of unusual behavior, should never have been able to purchase a gun.
One survivor called the incident an "extremely tragic example of what is
at stake each and every time a gun falls — or is placed — in the wrong
hands."
Loughner is currently receiving treatment
for mental illnesses at a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility, where he
will remain until a judge decides he is fit to stand trial. He is
expected to enter his plea on Tuesday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/04/jared-lee-loughner-gabby-giffords-shooter-guilty_n_1742737.html

It looks like he wants to plead guilty to escape the death penality.
I hope that does not happen.

This type of event and case is what the death penality is for.

William

Jared Loughner pleads guilty to Tucson shootings, avoids death penalty

By NBC News staff
Updated 6:50 p.m. ET: Jared Lee Loughner on Tuesday pleaded guilty to killing six people and wounding former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a dozen others in a January 2011 shooting rampage at a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket.

The plea came after U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns ruled that the 23-year-old college dropout was competent enough to enter a plea.

"He's a different person in his appearance and affect than the first time I saw him," Burns said of Loughner.

A courtroom sketch of Jared Loughner and his attorney Judy Clarke.

Burns then began to question Loughner, asking if he understood everything in his guilty plea agreement, in which Loughner would admit to 19 counts -- the attempted assassination of Giffords, six counts related to the shooting deaths and the remaining counts for injuries -- and the government would not seek the death penalty.

Loughner said he understood the charges. Asked by the judge if he has a clear mind, Loughner responded, "Yes, I do."

Burns confirmed with Loughner and his attorney, Judy Clarke, that they understood that Loughner could not change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Clarke also explained the deal waives Loughner's right to an appeal.

Additional provisions of the plea deal call for Loughner to forfeit ownership of the weapons he used in the shootings and pay restitution of up to $19 million, $1 million to each of the victims. He also must forfeit any money earned from selling his story.

Burns then read each of the counts against Loughner to which Loughner replied, "I plead guilty." The judge accepted the pleas.

Loughner opened fire on Jan. 8, 2011, outside a Tucson Safeway where then-Rep. Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with constituents. Six people, including a federal judge, John Roll, and a 9-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green, were killed. Giffords, who was shot in the head, was among 13 people wounded.

Earlier Tuesday, with Loughner listening calmly without expression, Dr. Christina Pietz, a psychologist who evaluated Loughner, testified that he showed signs of depression as early as 2006 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2011.

Officials at a federal prison have forcibly medicated him with psychotropic drugs for more than a year.

Pietz said she believed that medication helped Loughner because he began showing some remorse about the shootings and at one point said he felt bad about the “assassination attempt,” and was tormented by thoughts of what he’d done.

"He has become human," Pietz said, testifying Loughner was mentally competent to proceed with the hearing.

A guilty plea deal means Loughner will not face the death penalty; instead, he would spend the rest of his life in prison. It would also mean that survivors and victims’ relatives, many of whom attended Tuesday's hearing, would be spared what could be a lengthy and agonizing trial.

Loughner initialed each page of the agreement "JL" and signed his name to the document, dated Aug. 6, 2012, with a shaky signature.

Though the plea agreement stipulates that Loughner will face a punishment of life in prison, he was not formally sentenced on Tuesday. That has been scheduled for Nov. 15.

Analysis: In Loughner case, a cost-benefit calculation to the death penalty

"It is my hope that this decision will allow the Tucson community, and the nation, to continue the healing process free of what would likely be extended trial and pre-trial proceedings that would not have a certain outcome," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "In making the determination not to seek the death penalty, I took into consideration the views of the victims and survivor families, the recommendations of the prosecutors assigned to the case, and the applicable law."

The U.S. Attorney for Arizona, John Leonardo, said the resolution of the case was appropriate.

"The lives of these victims and the lives of their families will never be the same," Leonardo said, "and nothing that the criminal justice system or anyone else can do will ever bring back what these people have lost."

Several shooting survivors spoke out after the hearing, including U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, a former aide to Giffords, who called the plea agreement "certain" and "just."

Earlier, Giffords’ husband said he and his wife were also satisfied with the plea deal with Loughner.

"Gabby and I have been in contact with the U.S. Attorneys' Office throughout this process. We don't speak for all of the victims or their families, but Gabby and I are satisfied with this plea agreement,” Kelly, a retired astronaut, said in the statement.

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, seen here on July 25, 2012, was shot in the head during the shooting spree.

“The pain and loss caused by the events of January 8, 2011 are incalculable. Avoiding a trial will allow us - and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community - to continue with our recovery and move forward with our lives."

Giffords retired from Congress a year after the shooting to focus on her recovery.



This has to stop. There have been at least three or four in the last year plead out just to escape the death penality in killing of a child. When it comes to the deliberate killing of a child there should be NO bargining.
Death for a Death. We need to change the laws. No breaks for killing children. Better laws to protect kids.

William