John Hinckley Jr, who shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981 in the hopes of wooing then 19-year-old actress Jodie Foster, was set to be freed after decades of incarceration from a mental institution on Wednesday to live with his mother. He is not allowed to be in the same area as current presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress, or other senior members of an administration, and he is not allowed to have Facebook, Twitter, or other social media accounts without the unanimous consent of his treatment team.
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In ordering Hinckley’s release, Friedman wrote that the presidential assailant no longer posed a threat to himself or others, and his psychotic disorder and major depression have been in remission for more than 20 years.
“I will forever be haunted by a drizzly March afternoon when my father nearly died, when Jim Brady lay in a pool of blood and two other men – Thomas Delahanty and Timothy McCarthy – were gravely wounded”, Davis, 63, continued.
Doctors have said for many years that Hinckley, 61, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting, is no longer plagued by the mental illness that drove him to shoot Reagan. On Wednesday, a judge finalized John Hinckley Jr.’s transition to freedom, ordering that Hinckley can permanently leave the psychiatric hospital where he was confined after the assassination attempt. And it is just as profoundly foolish that we have left our fragmented, sorry excuse for a mental health care system in ruins, with reprehensible cracks big enough for many ill and violent individuals to slip through-often, through no fault of their own.
And since 2006, Hinckley has completed more than 80 unsupervised visits to Williamsburg, the judge said.
He will have to live with his mother for a year, limited to a 50-mile radius from Williamsburg.
Friedman said Hinckley will be required to spend at least a year living with his mother, Jo Ann (90) in Williamsburg, Virginia, about 210 km south of Washington, where he has been making visits for several years.
Reagan was hit in the chest and was hospitalized for 12 days.
The foundation honoring President Reagan’s legacy says it “strongly opposes” the release of Hinckley. President Reagan spent six weeks in the hospital recovering from wounds sustained in the shooting. When he died in 2014, his death was ruled a homicide.
Secret Service agents have monitored Hinckley during furloughs and likely will continue to do so.
The release, cast as “convalescent leave”, is subject to strict guidelines.
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“Mr. Hinckley shall abide by all laws, shall not consume alcohol, illegal drugs… shall not possess any firearm, weapon, or ammunition and shall not be arrested for cause”, Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ordered.
