John Hinckley Jr to be ‘unconditionally released’ after trying to kill Ronald Reagan in 1981 shooting & paralyzing aide

THE man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan is set to be "unconditionally released", according to reports on Monday.

 John Hinckley Jr. was 25 when he shot and wounded the 40th U.S. president outside a Washington hotel in 1981.

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Lawyers met in federal court on Monday before before U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman to look at freeing him from court-imposed restrictions.

The release from supervision would begin in June 2022, according to NBC reporter Scott MacFarlane.

Hinckley has, for the last few years, has been living outside a mental health facility.  

District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said the plan is to release Hinckley from all court supervision in June if he remains mentally stable and continues to follow the court-issued rules.

'NO EVIDENCE OF DANGER'

His lawyer Barry Wm. Levine said: "There is no evidence of danger whatsoever."

Prosecutor Kacie Weston said: "Ultimately your honor, at this point, the ball is in Mr. Hinckley's hands."

The shooting paralyzed Reagan press secretary James Brady, who died in 2014.

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It also injured Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty.

Jurors decided Hinckley was suffering from acute psychosis and found him not guilty by reason of insanity, saying he needed treatment and not life in prison.

COURT IMPOSED CONDITIONS

Since Hinckley, 66, moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, from a Washington hospital in 2016, the court-imposed conditions have included doctors and therapists overseeing his psychiatric medication and deciding how often he attends individual and group therapy sessions.

Hinckley has been barred from having a gun.

And he can’t contact Reagan’s children, other victims or their families, or actress Jodie Foster, who he was obsessed with at the time of the 1981 shooting.

Friedman said that Hinckley, now 66, has displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, no violent behavior and no interest in weapons since 1983.

“If he hadn’t tried to kill the president, he would have been unconditionally released a long, long, long time ago,” the judge said.

“But everybody is comfortable now after all of the studies, all of the analysis and all of the interviews and all of the experience with Mr. Hinckley.”

A 2020 violence risk assessment conducted on behalf of Washington’s Department of Behavioral Health concluded that Hinckley would not pose a danger.

US GOVERNMENT OPPOSES

The U.S. government had previously opposed ending restrictions.

But it took a different position Monday, with attorneys saying they would agree to unconditional release if Hinckley follows the rules and shows mental stability for the next nine months.

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Kacie Weston, an attorney for the U.S. government, said that it wants to make sure Hinckley can adapt well to living on his own after his mother died in July.

Another concern is the impending retirement of one of his therapists and the looming end to a therapy group, which has provided a lot of support and social interaction for Hinckley.

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