The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

Judge: Reagan shooter can leave hospital to live in Virginia

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More than 35 years after he tried to assassinat­e President Ronald Reagan in an effort to impress actress Jodie Foster, John Hinckley Jr. will be allowed to leave a Washington mental hospital and live full time with his mother in Virginia, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Judge Paul Friedman wrote in a 14-page ruling and accompanyi­ng 103-page opinion that Hinckley — who currently spends more than half his days at hismother’s home— is ready to live full time in the community. Friedman granted Hinckley leave from the hospital starting no sooner than Aug. 5.

Doctors have said for many years that Hinckley, 61, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting, is no longer plagued by the mental illness that drove him to shoot Reagan.

Three others were wounded in the March 30, 1981, shooting outside a Washington hotel, including Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady.

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