Loughner's detention extended

TUCSON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- A judge ordered Jared Loughner, accused of the Tucson massacre that killed six people and injured 13, to receive four more months of mental health treatment.

In his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns said it was possible for Loughner to achieve mental competency and stand trial, The Arizona Republic reported.

Loughner is accused of killing six and wounding 13 on Jan. 10, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in a mass shooting outside of a supermarket in Tucson. He has been in a prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., since May. Loughner pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the shooting.

Loughner, 23, was silent during the 7 1/2-hour hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tucson, staring ahead as his attorneys and experts discussed his treatment for schizophrenia, the newspaper said. Loughner's blank expression was a side effect of medication he has taken for the past 60 days, experts testified.

Under consideration at Wednesday's hearing was a prison psychologist's request to extend the time available to try to restore Loughner's competency. Defense attorneys opposed the move, saying they questioned whether their client's competency could ever be restored to the level necessary so he could assist in his own defense and stand trial.

Federal prosecutors and mental health experts argued that, even though Loughner was being medicated by force and still exhibited signs of psychosis, they thought his demeanor signaled his mental health was improving.

Burns said his observations of Loughner at hearing corroborated witness accounts, the Republic said, and cited Loughner's courtroom behavior in his ruling.

"The court finds that reasonable progress toward restoration has been made," Burns said. "I see that manifest here in his demeanor today."