Mentally ill Tuscon shooter sentenced - Gabrielle Giffords face Jared Loughner in court - VIDEO

Giffords’ husband finally confronts wife's shooter in court

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Former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, and her husband Mark Kelly leave after the sentencing of Jared Loughner, in back of U.S. District Court Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns sentenced Jared Lee Loughner, 24, to life in prison, for the January 2011 attack that left six people dead and Giffords and others wounded. Loughner pleaded guilty to federal charges under an agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Photo by AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

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Jared Lee Loughner, 24, the man who went on a 2011 Arizona shooting rampage that left six people dead and wounded former US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been sentenced to seven life terms, plus 140 years in prison.

According to the Daily Mail, Loughner pleaded guilty in August to the Tucson shooting and has struck a deal with prosecutors that that will spare him the death penalty.

Loughner's change of plea came after more than a year of arguments over his competence to stand trial. He is a diagnosed schizophrenic, and will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly were in the courtroom for his sentencing on Thursday. It was the first time the couple have seen Loughner in person since he opened fire at a constituents meeting that Giffords was holding outside an Arizona supermarket.

In court Giffords finally came face to face with the man who tried to kill her last year, but she chose not to speak.

Giffords was shot in the head and then quickly rushed to hospital where surgeons saved her life. Later she underwent intensive recovery at a medical facility in Houston, Texas.

Since the shooting Giffords has resigned her congressional seat, but she recited the Pledge of the Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. this past summer.

According to the New York Post, Giffords husband Mark Kelly spoke for the couple when he told Loughner how his rampage at the former congresswoman's political meeting had turned their lives upside down.

'Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered,' Kelly said at Loughner's sentencing. 'Every day is a continuous struggle to do those things she once was so good at.'

Loughner showed no emotion at the sentencing, looking directly at the other victims. His mother reportedly sobbed nearby.

'Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place,' Kelly said.

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