(via Reuters)
A federal judge on Friday rejected a request by news organizations to release search warrant records of Arizona shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner, saying the investigation was still under way.
But U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said he would consider releasing the materials once a superseding indictment was handed down in the case, which prosecutors said could be by March 9. And Burns declined a motion by prosecutors and defense attorneys to bar release of Loughner’s federal photographs, saying he had no authority to overrule a prior appeals court opinion on such issues.
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More than a dozen media outlets have asked that the photos and documents be released by the federal government under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
Loughner, a 22-year-old college dropout, is accused of opening fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd of her constituents at a political gathering January 8 outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona.
Six bystanders, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed, and 13 others were wounded.
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