John Roll
On January 12, 2011, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit selected Burns to be the presiding judge for the trial of Jared Lee Loughner. Burns was selected, in part, for his prior experience with cases involving the federal death penalty. The entire federal judiciary of Arizona recused themselves from the case due to their ties to the late John Roll, a federal judge who had been killed in the shooting, prompting the appointment of a judge from outside Arizona.