Mr. Hinckley, 66, who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, will be “untethered to the court” next year after a judge’s ruling on Monday, his lawyer said.
A federal judge agreed on Monday to lift all remaining restrictions on John W. Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981, next year if he stays mentally stable and continues to follow the conditions that he has been living under, prosecutors said. Judge Paul L. Friedman, during a hearing in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, said he would issue his written order on the plan this week, his office said. “If he hadn’t tried to kill the president, he would have been unconditionally released a long, long time ago,” The Associated Press quoted the judge as saying during the hearing. “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.” At the hearing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said it would agree to Mr. Hinckley’s unconditional release in June 2022 “if he continues to comply with the conditions of his current release order and maintains his mental stability between now and then,” Bill Miller, a spokesman for the office, said in a statement. Barry Levine, a lawyer for Mr. Hinckley,66, said in a telephone interview that he and prosecutors had agreed before the hearing on the unconditional release and that Judge Friedman granted their joint request. He said the reason to wait until June was related to two major events in Mr. Hinckley’s life: Mr. Hinckley’s mother died in July, and his therapist is retiring in January 2022.
