President Reagan spent six weeks in the hospital recovering from wounds sustained in the shooting. The Friedman made a decision to end Hinckley’s institutionalization after determining that he no longer poses a danger to himself or others and that he has “displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, exhibited no violent behavior [and] shown no interest in weapons”.
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The Hinckley verdict also led several states to rewrite their laws making it more hard to use the insanity defense, while the U.S. Secret Service significantly tightened its protocols for presidential security.
By 2003, he was allowed unsupervised daytime visits with his parents, and five years ago the court began hearings that would lead to his permanent release.
Hinckley has already been staying at his mother’s home in a gated community with a golf course during monthly furlough visits. Brady died as a result of his wounds in 2014 and federal prosecutors said the following year they would not charge Hinckley with his murder. A judge ruled the would-be assassin poses no threat to society.
He drives himself around town in a Toyota Avalon during his time in Williamsburg.
Hinckley will continue to live under restrictions after his release. He still has to attend therapy sessions and come for regular checkups in Washington.
He is also prohibited from “knowingly travel” to locations near current presidents, vice presidents, or other high-level political figures, and he has several digital media restrictions as well.
Hinckley is likely to be busy.
Hinckley has worked as a volunteer at the library of a psychiatric facility in Williamsburg after failing to secure employment at places such as Starbucks and Subway, the magazine wrote. According to court records, he has said it was hard for him to ask for jobs at Starbucks and Subway while being followed by the Secret Service: “It made me feel awkward and uncomfortable”.
“I don’t like flipping around the TV, I want to do things”, a court document quoted him saying.
But Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, expressed some resignation, blogging that she was “not surprised by this latest development, but my heart is sickened”.
The Department of Justice will keep an eye on Hinckley, and presumably so will the Secret Service, but the conditions placed on his release are hardly onerous.
He’ll live with his elderly mother and will face dozens of conditions on his release. He could then be allowed to live in a separate home either alone or with roommates, provided that members of his treatment team approve. “I will forever be haunted by a drizzly March afternoon when my father nearly died”. “It is fair to say that the lives of few people have been scrutinized with the care and detail that John Hinckley’s has been”. “How can he be allowed to roam the streets as if nothing happened?” Some neighbors are wary of his presence, although the police chief said there’s no need for his officers to pay special attention to Hinckley.
“From a mental illness perspective, I just have some reluctance about having him roam free like this”, said Tom Campbell, 77, a retired manager at NASA.
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Hinckley’s lawyer, Barry William Levine said, “He is profoundly sorry for what he did”.
