Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, plan to be in the courtroom Thursday. Giffords, husband to face gunman

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly will confront the man who put a bullet through her brain at his sentencing Thursday for a shooting rampage that left six people dead in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011, a source close to the family confirmed.

Mass murderer Jared Lee Loughner struck a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in August that will spare his life, but is designed to ensure that he spends the rest of it behind bars.


( PHOTOS: Gabrielle Giffords's congressional career)

Giffords and Kelly will be in the courtroom for his sentencing at 10 a.m. Thursday, and Kelly plans to address Loughner on their behalf, the source said.

At the time of the plea deal with federal prosecutors, Kelly released a statement for himself and Giffords that said they were “satisfied” with the Justice Department’s decision to accept the agreement rather than pursuing the death penalty. A long trial could have forced the surviving victims, their families and the families of the dead to relive the horrific shooting spree.

On Jan. 8, 2011, Loughner opened fire at Giffords’s Congress on Your Corner event outside a Tuscon supermarket, killing six people, including federal judge John M. Roll, Giffords aide Gabriel Zimmerman and 9-year-old Christina Taylor-Green, and wounding 13 others.

Giffords, shot in the head, was rushed to the hospital where surgeons saved her life. She underwent intensive in-patient recovery at a medical facility in Houston, Texas, returned to the House to cast a vote avoiding a default on the nation’s debt in the summer of 2011, and ultimately resigned her seat in January 2012.

She recited the Pledge of the Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., this past summer.