Judge grants John Hinckley, Jr. his freedom decades after Reagan assassination attempt
(FOX)- The man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan is set to go free, after a judge decided Wednesday to allow would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. to live with his mother in Virginia full-time.
Hinckley is set to begin his “convalescent leave” on Aug. 5, according to U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman’s order.
Friedman wrote that “all of the experts and treatment providers” who testified during the hearing agreed that Hinckley’s issues — major depression and psychotic disorder — were “in full and sustained remission and have been for more than twenty years.”
“Mr. Hinckley is clinically ready for full-time convalescent leave,” Friedman wrote.
Hinckley, 61, attempted to kill Reagan outside of the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981. He fired six shots, hitting four people, including Reagan, who was wounded when a bullet bounced off his presidential limo. Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the right side of his head, sustaining serious injuries. When he died in August 2014, Brady’s death was ruled a homicide.
Hinckley was arrested at the scene and was later found not guilty by reason of mental insanity. Hinckley had allegedly tried to kill Reagan in order to gain the affection of Hollywood starlet Jodie Foster.
Hinckley’s release from Washington’s St. Elizabeths hospital has been more than a decade in the making. In late 2003, the judge allowed Hinckley to begin leaving the hospital for day visits with his parents in the Washington area.