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Appeals court: No forced meds for Tucson suspect at Mo. facility

Jared Lee Loughner.
(U.S. Marshals Service)
Jared Lee Loughner.

An appeals court has ordered federal prison officials to temporarily stop forcing anti-psychotic drugs on the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage.

The brief order from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came late Friday after Jared Lee Loughner's lawyers appealed a ruling allowing him to be medicated.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ruled last week that he didn't want to second-guess doctors at the federal prison in Springfield, Mo., who determined Loughner was a danger and needed medication.

Loughner has been at the facility since May 28, after Burns concluded he was mentally unfit to help in his legal defense.

The 22-year-old college dropout has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 rampage that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.