A federal judge will now decide whether the man who shot President Reagan in an assassination attempt at a Washington hotel should be allowed to spend longer periods of time away from the District’s psychiatric hospital.
Final arguments were made Thursday in the case of John Hinckley Jr., who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, his press secretary, a Secret Service agent and a D.C. police officer on March 30, 1981, outside the Washington Hilton.
Hinckley has been confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington. But doctors have said his mental illness is in remission, and in recent years Hinckley has been permitted to spend 10 days at a time about once a month at his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Va. Government attorneys want his time away from the hospital to remain at 10-day intervals until he is accepted to a treatment facility in Williamsburg.
St. Elizabeths and Hinckley’s attorney are asking that Hinckley’s away time be expanded to 17 days per month, then 24 days, and that he ultimately be able to be released.
Hinckley attorney Barry Levine said there is no rational basis to believe Hinckley is dangerous because he hasn’t done anything dangerous during his previous releases. He called the proposal “reasonable.”
But although the government does not want to end Hinckley’s current visits, U.S. Attorney Nihar Mohanty said there still are several risks — including that Hinckley has engaged in deceptions and that he has not spent much time socializing while in Williamsburg.
Mohanty said that Hinckley said he was going to the movies on one such visit, but while being observed by a Secret Service agent was seen going into a bookstore and looked at books about Reagan and the assassination attempt.
“Glancing at books does not equate to danger,” Levine said.
If Hinckley is accepted to the treatment facility, he would receive services there and live with his mother, Levine said.
Judge Paul Friedman said he would likely not rule on the matter before April.
