John Warnock Hinckley, who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, will be released from a psychiatric hospital after a judge today set a series of conditions for him to live with his mother in Virginia.
In a 103 page opinion from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said Mr. Hinckley’s doctors have found he has “no signs of psychotic symptoms, delusional thinking, or any violent tendencies,’’ and therefore “presents no danger to himself or to others in the reasonable future if released.’’
Mr. Hinckley may be released as early as Aug. 5, the judge ruled.
The ruling means that 35 years after an attack that severely wounded the president and three others, Mr. Hinckley will be a free man—albeit with restrictions on his travel, communications, work and use of the internet.
Mr. Hinckley, 61, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 and committed to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. Over the past 12 years, his doctors and the courts have been gradually loosening his restrictions, over objections from the Justice Department, allowing him to go to Williamsburg, Va., for unsupervised visits with his family more than 80 times.
Now Mr. Hinckley will be allowed to live with his mother there, provided he still has regular medical and social-work checkups, works or volunteers at least three days a week and adheres to limits on his travel and communication.
The order of the judge also, specifically, bars Mr. Hinckley, or his family from talking to reporters.
How convenient.
He is also forbidden from trying to contact his victims or any of their relatives or descendants, and he is barred from trying to contact the actress Jodie Foster or her family. At the time of the Reagan shooting, Mr. Hinckley was obsessed with Ms. Foster and hoped the assassination would impress her.
Does any one have Travis Bickle’s cell phone number?
Mr. Reagan died in 2004. Another victim of the shooting, White House press secretary James Brady, died in 2014, a death that was ruled a homicide because doctors concluded it was a direct result of the shooting, which left him partially paralyzed.
The Justice Department and the Secret Service declined to comment on Mr. Hinckley’s release.
Donald Trump told reporters today that Mr. Hinckley “should not have been freed.”
The conditions of Mr. Hinckley’s release include a requirement that he must visit a doctor in Washington at least once a month and a prohibition on creating any social-media accounts without unanimous agreement from his doctors.
Because Mr. Hinckley was once obsessed with notoriety and fame, the judge ruled that he can only publish or post music, art, photos, or writings with prior approval from his doctors.
He will also be required to carry a cellphone equipped with geolocation tracking software and give his doctors access to that information, according to the judge’s order. The order prohibits Mr. Hinckley from traveling more than 30 miles from Williamsburg without a relative, or more than 50 miles unless it is to visit doctors in Washington.
The order only requires him to live with his mother for the first year of his release. After that, if his doctors agree, he may be allowed to live elsewhere in the Williamsburg area.
Mr. Hinckley is also prohibited from using drugs or alcohol or possessing a gun, the judge ruled.
Judge Friedman’s ruling indicated he expects some won’t grasp the rationale behind releasing Mr. Hinckley, and he took pains to put his action in the context of the wider criminal-justice system.
“Thousands of times every day, judges across this country attempt the difficult, daunting task of predicting with confidence what a human being may do in the future,’’ Judge Friedman wrote. “This is typically done with considerably less information, analysis and expert opinion than this court has about John W. Hinckley, Jr.’’
Lobster on the Prairie 