Larry Burns

Larry Burns

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Southern District of California

Education

Personal

San Diego hilltop cross must be removed

See also: United States District Court for the Southern District of California

In December 2013, Judge Burns ruled that the large cross on the Mount Soledad hilltop cross violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The cross is on public land, as part of a National War Memorial in La Jolla.^[3]

The cross was erected in 1954 and has been challenged in the courts since 1989. Since 2006, the cross has been federal property. Previously, the Ninth Circuit decided that the cross does amount to government's establishment of religion. In 2012, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the ruling, sending it back to the district court.^[4]

Tucson shooter (2011)

See also: United States District Court for the Southern District of California (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JARED LEE LOUGHNER, No. 4:11-cr-00187-LAB-1)

On January 13, 2011, Burns was assigned to hear the case of Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner after all of the federal judges in Arizona recused themselves from it.^[5] Loughner was accused of a shooting outside of a grocery store in Tucson resulting in the death of six people, including a 9-year-old girl and federal judge John Roll; and the injury of 12 others, including state Representative Gabrielle Giffords. ^[6]

On May 25, 2011, Judge Burns ruled that Loughner was not mentally competent to stand trial and suspended the court proceedings against him. Burns reviewed footage of interviews between Loughner and an expert psychologist and psychiatrist, both of whom diagnosed Loughner with schizophrenia, and agreed with their diagnoses. He ordered Loughner to undergo treatment for up to four months, during which time his mental competence was evaluated. On August 7, 2012, after it was determined that he was competent to stand trial, Loughner plead guilty all 19 charges he faced.^[7]

Excessive police force lawsuit (2009)

See also: United States District Court for the District of Idaho (CARTER v. CITY OF POST FALLS, IDAHO ET AL., No. CIV-0800488-EJL)

On July 31, 2009, Judge Burns dismissed a lawsuit by a man who sued the city of Post Falls, Idaho over its police department's alleged use of excessive force. Scott Carter sued the police on claims that excessive force was used during a traffic stop in which an officer inflicted a head injury upon Carter in the process of removing him from the car. Burns issued a summary judgment ruling that Carter did not provide a "triable issue of material fact" to the question of "whether the police who stopped and arrested him acted in a manner that was objectively reasonable." Dismissing Carter's case, Burns wrote that Carter "failed to offer or point to meaningful evidence that any of several key allegations in his pleadings might be true, particularly the allegation that the police who stopped and arrested him threw him head-first into the ground in such a manner that he sustained serious and lasting injuries."^[8]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Judge Burns Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
2. ↑ The Library of Congress, Nomination of Larry Burns, February 17, 2009
3. ↑ Reuters.com, "U.S. judge orders landmark California cross taken down," December 12, 2013
4. ↑ ABCNews, "Judge Orders Removal of San Diego War Cross," December 13, 2013
5. ↑ Jurist "Federal judge appointed to hear Arizona shooting case," January 13, 2011
6. ↑ CNN Wire "Police 'actively pursuing' second person in Tucson shooting," January 9, 2011
7. ↑ AZcentral.com, "Loughner found competent, pleads guilty in mass shooting," August 7, 2012
8. ↑ In the United States District Court in and for the District of Idaho, "CASE NO. CIV 08-00488-EJL Order on Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment," accessed June 23, 2020