A federal judge yesterday granted presidential assailant John W. Hinckley Jr.'s request to leave a psychiatric hospital in the District to make several overnight visits to his parents at their home near Williamsburg.
The visits will be the most freedom Hinckley has had since his arrest in 1981 for shooting President Ronald Reagan, press secretary James S. Brady and two law enforcement officers. He has been held at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington since 1982, when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity...
Justice Department attorneys repeatedly raised concerns about whether he is capable of having normal relations with women. Hinckley has told his doctors that he wants more freedom so he can meet women and maybe find a wife.
It was Hinckley's "delusional" obsession with actress Jodie Foster that led him to try to assassinate Reagan. In addition to Reagan and Brady, the gunfire March 30, 1981, wounded D.C. police officer Thomas K. Delahanty and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. A year ago, the judge declined to loosen restrictions on Hinckley, saying he had questions about his relationship with Leslie deVeau, a former mental patient who was Hinckley's girlfriend for much of the past two decades. Hinckley has since broken up with her, but prosecutors have questioned Hinckley's interactions with other women, especially hospital staff, saying he appears to misread their intentions.
Friedman's ruling yesterday stopped short of giving Hinckley broader freedoms envisioned by his defense team and the hospital. Hinckley's attorneys had hoped for longer visits, up to seven nights, outside the area. The hospital had suggested that Hinckley could embark on other activities during the extended stays with his family, such as seeking a driver's license, looking for employment or getting vocational training, but Friedman said that was premature.
The judge said Hinckley was ready, however, to walk unescorted around his parents' neighborhood for stretches of up to 90 minutes. And he said gardening, shopping and cooking could be suitable activities during the stays.
I understand though the Hinckley and Bush families were friends, according to some reports....
Ah, Jodie Foster...we need people who love you now more than ever...I better not write anything like that...not that there's anything wrong with fans of Jodie Foster...
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