Loughner pleads guilty to Tucson shootings

Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty in Arizona on Tuesday to last year's attack that killed six bystanders and wounded 13 other people, including his main target, then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. From Associated Press:

Loughner's plea spares him the death penalty and came soon after a federal judge found that months of forcibly medicating him to treat his schizophrenia had made the 23-year-old college dropout competent.

At one point, Judge Larry A. Burns asked Loughner if he understood the charges against him and what the government would need to convict him.

"Yes, I understand," Loughner replied....

Loughner faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.