Prosecutors will not oppose full release of Hinckley

Attorneys for the U.S. government have indicated that they will not oppose a plan to lift all remaining restrictions next month on John Hinckley Jr., the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman in Washington ruled last year that Hinckley can be freed unconditionally in June if he continued to follow the rules placed on him and remained mentally stable where he lives in Williamsburg, Va.

Hinckley, 66, has indeed remained mentally stable and violated no conditions, according to a letter filed by U.S. attorneys with the court on Thursday. That determination was based on letters from the Washington’s Department of Health, which has overseen Hinckley’s care.

“As such, the government has found no evidence to suggest that Mr. Hinckley’s unconditional release should not be granted as outlined,” the letter from the U.S. attorneys stated. A hearing is scheduled for June 1.

Hinckley was 25 when he shot and wounded the 40th U.S. president outside a Washington hotel. The shooting paralyzed Reagan press secretary James Brady, who died in 2014. It also injured Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty.

Hinckley was suffering from acute psychosis. When jurors found him not guilty by reason of insanity, they said he needed treatment and not a lifetime in confinement.

Such an acquittal meant that Hinckley could not be blamed or punished for what he did, legal experts have said. Hinckley was ordered to live at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington.

In the 2000s, Hinckley started visiting his parents’ home in Williamsburg. A 2016 court order granted him permission to live with his mom full time, after experts said his mental illness had been in remission for decades.

Hinckley had to live under a long list of restrictions, which the judge has been loosening over the years. He still must give three days’ notice if he wants to travel more than 75 miles from home. Other restrictions include a prohibition barring Hinckley from contacting the actor Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed at the time of the 1981 shooting.