McCarthy, now the police chief of the Chicago suburb of Orland Park, says he is a bit perturbed he didn’t get a notification of the judge’s decision and hopes it’s the right one.
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Hinckley can not be released any earlier than August 5. On Wednesday, Friedman said John Hinckley Jr. could be released from St. Elizabeths, a government-run psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., as soon as next week.
“We believe John Hinckley is still a threat to others”, the statement said. Hinckley has been spending 17 days a month there for over two years. He says “the mental health system and the judicial system worked and worked well”.
Patti Davis says in a lengthy statement on her website that she will “forever be haunted” by the day her father nearly died in 1981.
Davis went on to criticize Hinckley’s lawyers and team of doctors that believe “his psychosis and depression have been in remission for decades and his narcissistic personality disorder has lessened. quite a feat since narcissistic personality disorder is considered incurable”. A judge has ruled he’s no longer a danger to society.
“Since 1983, when he last attempted suicide, he has displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, exhibited no violent behavior, shown no interest in weapons, and demonstrated no suicidal ideation”, Friedman said of Hinckley in a 103-page opinion.
A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity, which caused a public furor and a big change in the laws. A judge ruled Wednesday that he’s no longer a danger and can live full-time with his mother in Virginia. He now works as vice president of global security for The AP. According to court records and testimony at a recent court hearing on the issue of his release, he has spent time volunteering at a church as well as a local mental hospital.
Hinckley began to identify with the film’s main character, Travis Bickle, who planned to assassinate a presidential candidate, and spent several years trying to make contact with Foster, who was a student at Yale University in CT.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump also called it a “mistake” to release Hinckley, whom he misidentified as “David Hinckley”. He can drive, but there are restrictions on how far he can travel. He also has applied for jobs at Starbucks and Subway, without success, saying he was dismayed by having the Secret Service tail him as he sought employment.
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Among the judge’s restrictions, Hinckley must meet monthly with St. Elizabeths’ doctors in Washington and attend regular sessions with therapists and a psychiatrist in Williamsburg. He also is restricted from talking to media or contacting victims and victims’ family members as well as actress Jodie Foster. Friedman’s ruling comes more than 35 years after the March 30, 1981, shooting outside a Washington hotel in which Reagan and three others were injured. He’s previously been allowed to take extended furloughs from the hospital to spend time with his mother in Williamsburg, Va. They said that extending visits by more days would provide few additional benefits and the next logical step in treatment was for him to live full-time in Williamsburg.
