Reagan’s shooter expected to be freed from all remaining restrictions
2022.06.01 18:07
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John Hinckley Jr. arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. November 19, 2003. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski
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(Reuters) – A federal judge was expected on Wednesday to grant John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan and three others in a 1981 assassination attempt, unconditional release from the remaining restrictions he faces.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman was to hold a 10 a.m. hearing in his District of Columbia courtroom to formally lift travel and internet usage restrictions on Hinckley, who has been living in Williamsburg, Virginia.
During a hearing in September, Friedman said he would grant Hinckley unconditional release, but wanted to give prosecutors more time to monitor Hinckley as he transitioned to living on his own following the death of his mother.
Friedman said Hinckley’s mental health problems were “in remission” and he no longer posed a danger.
In 2016, Hinckley was released from a psychiatric hospital where he was treated for depression and psychosis and allowed to move into a gated community in Williamsburg to care for his elderly mother, who died in August 2021.
Since his leaving the hospital, Hinckley has been compliant with court-ordered conditions and has remained mentally stable and asymptomatic, according to court documents.
“Hinckley has made no verbal threats, and he has exhibited no behaviors indicative of harm to himself, others, or the property of others. He has exhibited no disruptive or problematic behaviors,” federal prosecutors wrote to the court in support of his release.
In September, Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post that she opposed Hinckley’s release, saying that she did not believe he feels remorse.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley shot Reagan in an assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Reagan suffered a punctured lung but recovered quickly.
Others wounded included White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity at a 1982 jury trial.
