From Reuters:
“U.S. President Reagan's
shooter John Hinckley wins unconditional release”
A U.S. judge on Monday said he
would grant "unconditional release" to John Hinckley, who wounded
former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other people in a 1981
assassination attempt. "I am going to, after all these years, grant
unconditional release to Mr. Hinckley," U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman
said during a court hearing in the District of Columbia. In 2016, Friedman
allowed Hinckley to move out of a Washington psychiatric hospital, where he had
lived for three decades, but imposed restrictions on his travel and internet
usage. Friedman said during Monday's hearing that he planned to lift those
remaining restrictions. Hinckley's mental health problems are "in
remission" and that he no longer poses a danger, Friedman said. Friedman
said he would issue a written order later this week memorializing his decision.
A federal prosecutor, Kacie Weston, said during the court hearing that the U.S.
Justice Department agreed Hinckley should be given unconditional release. But
Weston argued the restrictions should not be formally lifted until June 2022 so
that prosecutors can continue to monitor Hinckley as he transitions to living
on his own following he death of his mother.
Reagan suffered a punctured lung
in the assassination attempt 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. That verdict prompted Congress and
some U.S. states to adopt laws limiting use of the insanity defense. The
shooting helped launch the modern gun control movement as Brady, who was left
permanently disabled, and his wife, Sarah, founded what is now known as the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
^ Hinckley should continue to
have restrictions on his movements and Internet usage for the rest of his life.
^
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