The federal courthouse at 333 Constitution Ave. has been the scene of many memorable dramas over the years. The buff-colored structure down the hill from the U.S. Capitol is no place for your everyday disputes over divorce or murder or drug deals.
Weighty, historic dramas play out here: cases such as Richard Nixon’s efforts to keep prying eyes from his taped, Oval Office conversations by invoking “executive privilege;” or the Pentagon Papers case, where the government tried to keep secret documents about the Vietnam War out of the press; and the 1990 case where the feds tried Marion Barry for cocaine possession and conspiracy.
This week and next the courthouse is hosting the latest installment in the John Hinckley Jr. saga. The question before Judge Paul Friedman is whether Hinckley, who tried to shoot Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, should be freed. It’s well worth the trip to courtroom 29A. You get to see Hinckley, live. You can hear attorneys battle over whether he’s still dangerous. Consider it “Law and Order” live.
Thirty years ago, in the same courthouse, Hinckley stood trial for trying to assassinate Reagan. No one disputed the fact that Hinckley, then 25, squeezed off six rounds from a handgun. One grazed Reagan’s aorta; the president survived and became the much-loved icon of conservatives. One lodged in press secretary Jim Brady’s brain, and he suffers still.
A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley’s lawyers and psychiatrists convinced jurors he had shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster, then a student at Yale, and therefore he was not responsible for his actions. No jail time for Hinckley; he’s been confined to St. Elizabeths mental hospital for the last 30 years.
Under the law, if the court finds Hinckley no longer a danger to himself or others, he gets to go free. Period.
No way, says the Reagan family. Reagan’s widow, Nancy, has made it clear Hinckley doesn’t deserve to be out and about. His son, Ron, and daughter, Patti Davis, have both spoken out against letting him go.
But Friedman started to allow Hinckley unsupervised visits to his family’s place near Williamsburg in 2003. Now the man who shot Reagan is away from St. Elizabeths nearly a third of the year. The hospital’s doctors want to increase that to half of the year and then set him free, with some strings.
Looking at Hinckley, now 56, a sad character sitting in court with a blank stare, I am glad I’m not in Friedman’s robe. Government prosecutors are making a good case that Hinckley’s still deceptive and untrustworthy. But as his lawyer, Barry Levine, has said, that’s not the issue. Is he dangerous or not? Friedman is on a course of allowing Hinckley more leave, and the judge will have to shoulder the burden if Hinckley breaks bad.
Like it or not, if we are a nation of laws, Hinckley gets to go free. That’s my position. Take yourself down to federal court, and decide for yourself.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
