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PHOENIX — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has a buildup of fluid on the brain, a potentially serious condition that’s keeping her in intensive care, officials said yesterday.
After days of stunning good-news reports on the wounded Arizona congresswoman’s recovery from a crazed gunman’s attack, officials said yesterday there would be no update on her condition until she is moved to a rehab hospital.
Doctors at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Hospital in Houston said Giffords has been given a tube to drain cerebrospinal fluid, which is building up and putting pressure on her brain.
The hospital gave no details, but said Giffords, who was shot in the forehead, would continue to receive therapy “until her physicians determine she is ready for transfer.”
Meanwhile, shooter Jared Lee Loughner smiled grotesquely as he walked into an Arizona courtroom to face arraignment on federal charges of trying to kill Giffords and two of her aides.
The 22-year-old college dropout remained silent, staring straight ahead, during the 10-minute hearing while his lawyer, Judy Clarke, pleaded not guilty for him.
He wore arm, waist and leg shackles over his orange prison jumpsuit, while being guarded by at least eight marshals in the courthouse.
Since his last court appearance on Jan. 10, Loughner has regrown his dark brown hair, and yesterday he was wearing wire-rimmed glasses.
Clarke didn’t rule out having Loughner plead insanity to the assassination charge.
When Judge Larry Burns asked her whether there was any question about her client’s ability to understand the case against him, Clarke replied, “We are not raising any issues at this time.”
Clarke, a prominent death-penalty-case lawyer, has a reputation for working out plea deals, as she had for “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski and Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph.
Loughner is certain to face a laundry list of other charges arising out of his murderous Jan. 8 shooting rampage at Giffords’ meet-and-greet event outside a Tucson grocery store. He also killed six people, including federal Judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl.
Burns set the next hearing for March 9.
