John Hinckley Jr. Unconditionally Released from Prison Today

By Jim Campbell

Sept. 27th 2021

Now here’s a story that should warm the cockles on everyone’s heart.

Yep, he’s going to live with his mom, play the guitar and work on his music.

Antidepressants not working. (Getty Images.)

Music: Secret Agent Man: Johnny Rivers.

Ms. Foster was 18 years-old.

Hinckley went to Princeton University, to stalk her, calling her nightly to the point where she taped recorded his calls.

There is no record of how the police, local, or FBI handled this situation.

Hinckley: Not Guilty!

The verdict of “not guilty” for reason of insanity in the 1982 trial of John Hinckley, Jr. for his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan stunned and outraged many Americans. An ABC News poll taken the day after the verdict showed 83% of those polled thought “justice was not done” in the Hinckley case.

Some people–without much evidence–attributed the verdict to an anti-Reagan bias on the part the Washington, D. C. jury of eleven blacks and one white.

Many more people, however, blamed a legal system that they claimed made it too easy for juries to return “not guilty” verdicts in insanity cases–despite the fact that such pleas were made in only 2% of felony cases and failed over 75% of the time.

Public pressure resulting from the Hinckley verdict spurred Congress and most states into enacting major reforms of laws governing the use of the insanity defense.

[Polls were of no more value back then than they are today]

In July 2016, in 1982, after being treated at St. Elizabeth’s psychiatric hospital for 35 years, Hinckley has been deemed fit for release to live with his 90-year-old mother in Williamsburg, Va. For a number of years his supervised visits had gradually increased to 17 days a month.

As part of the release plan, there will be numerous restrictions imposed on him, including close monitoring of his movements, limiting how far he is able to travel and providing authorities with access to his computer browsing history. 

“The court finds by the preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Hinckley will not be a danger to himself or to others if released on full-time convalescent leave to Williamsburg under the conditions proposed,” said U.S. District Judge Paul L Friedman of Washington in his 103-page opinion on the matter.

THE END