Reagan Shooter John Hinckley's Lawyers Say He's Ready To Be Free

A lawyer for John Hinckley told a federal judge Tuesday that it's time to grant the thwarted presidential assassin the power to leave a psychiatric hospital and live full time with his elderly mother in Virginia.

"Every witness agrees that he's ready and every witness agrees that the risk of danger is decidedly low," lawyer Barry William Levine argued.

Levine said the depression and psychosis that fueled Hinckley's drive to shoot President Ronald Reagan, press secretary James Brady and two law enforcement officers outside a Washington, D.C., hotel in 1981 is "in full, stable, sustained remission" and has been so for more than 20 years. Since then, Hinckley has performed volunteer work, made new friends and started to compose rock 'n' roll music his brother describes as "stuck in the past."

Hinckley, who turns 60 years old this month, quietly listened to the court proceedings, sometimes drumming his fingers on the table. When the judge said he wasn't likely to see Hinckley again for a while, he genially replied, "That's correct."

The government's own experts agree it may be time for Hinckley to leave the institution for good. But prosecutors say that should happen only under rigorous supervision to ensure that Hinckley adheres to detailed itineraries — and with his phone and driving privileges monitored.

"We all know that Mr. Hinckley is not any person and he never will be," Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Kennedy said. "Mr. Hinckley's in a very small class of defendants and at present he is the only one found not guilty by reason of insanity."

Hinckley already enjoys 17-day visits to his mother's home in Williamsburg every month. The question for Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman is whether to take the next step and grant him full convalescent leave from St. Elizabeths Hospital.

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