(CNN) -- A hearing is set for Wednesday to challenge a decision to forcibly medicate Arizona shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner in a federal prison hospital.
In an order Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns scheduled the hearing for the U.S. Federal Court in San Diego.
Lawyers representing Loughner said that forcing him to take mind-altering psychotropic drugs against his will violates his rights.
Prosecutors said prison officials acted properly in ordering the medication, which they said was necessary for Loughner to control his schizophrenia.
Loughner, 22, is charged in the January mass shooting in Tucson that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
A federal judge ruled last month that Loughner was not competent to stand trial. He was sent to a federal facility in Springfield, Missouri.
His lawyers conceded in an emergency motion filed Friday that they were uncertain whether officials at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, where Loughner was transferred, had started administering the drugs.
However, they said prison officials held a deficient hearing process and used faulty reasoning in deciding to drug Loughner against his will.
For example, Loughner had no attorney present at the June 14 hearing, the lawyers said, and officials failed to state the drug and dosage he should receive.
According to the emergency motion, authorities assessed Loughner as dangerous because of incidents before his transfer to the Springfield prison: He threw a chair against a door and spit at an attorney.
However, the reasoning to administer the drugs was to treat Loughner's mental illness, rather than to subdue any dangerous behavior, according to the motion.
Prosecutors argued that Loughner received a proper administrative hearing on the matter, and the medication prescribed was necessary to prevent him from being a danger to himself and others.In the days and weeks to come, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' recovery from a gunshot wound to the head will be a marathon, not a sprint, doctors say.Doctors for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords have upgraded her condition from serious to good, and said she may be transferred to a nearby rehabilitation hospital Wednesday morning.A federal judge entered a plea of not guilty Monday on behalf of Jared Lee Loughner to three counts of attempted murder in the mass shooting that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this month.Gabrielle Giffords has been able to stand with assistance. "She's activating her muscles even more than what I had anticipated," one doctor says.Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrived in Houston, Texas, on Friday to continue her recovery from a gunshot wound to the brain, her office said.The next phase of recovery for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is likely to begin later this week when she will be transported to a rehabilitation hospital in Houston.Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was worried about her safety long before she was critically wounded in a mass shooting that killed six people in Arizona, her husband said in a new interview.Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner photographed himself posing with a 9mm handgun while wearing a red G-string, a law enforcement source said.Today's five most popular stories
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