U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns of the Southern District of California, a former federal prosecutor, will preside over the case of Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect in Saturday’s shooting rampage, the Arizona Republic reported.
As previously reported, U.S. District Judge Raner Collins ruled that federal judges assigned to Arizona’s Tucson division must recuse themselves from presiding over the case because of ethics rules that require judges to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Burns was appointed to oversee the case by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which oversees the Arizona District Courts.
Burns has been a U.S. District Court Judge since 2003. From 1997 to 2003 he was a U.S. Magistrate Judge. Before becoming a judge Burns was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California from 1985 to 1997 and a San Digeo County deputy district attorney from 1979 to 1985.
It has yet to be determined whether federal prosecutors in Arizona will be allowed to handle the case, or whether the case will be transferred to another district, most likely the Southern District of California.
[...] week, it was announced that U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns of the Southern District of California, a former [...]