Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Crazed Gunman Who Shot Ronald Reagan Will Be a Free Man
freebeacon ^ | June 1, 2022 | Kevin Daley

Posted on 06/01/2022 10:53:00 PM PDT by MarvinStinson

Would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. will go free June 15

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has granted unconditional release to would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr., who in 1981 shot then-president Ronald Reagan and three others.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman approved Hinckley's unconditional release during a Wednesday morning hearing and wished the gunman well, according to reporters on hand for the proceedings. Though the threat to the then-president's life was downplayed at the time, the shooting nearly killed Reagan and left two others with permanent injuries.

Wednesday's release order captures the sharp pro-defendant turn of many courts at a time of skyrocketing violent crime. Friedman and lawyers for both sides said Wednesday that Hinckley's case was a model for mental health alternatives in criminal justice. Such approaches are championed by liberals who say social programs and counseling are a better treatment for crime than prison.

The would-be assassin commands an impressive pro-bono legal team comprised of attorneys from four different law firms, including heavy hitters Blank Rome LLP and Cozen O'Connor. Friedman, a Clinton appointee, in 1987 left a lucrative perch in private practice to join the independent counsel conducting the Iran-Contra investigation. The seven-year, $40 million probe failed to obtain a single lasting conviction

Justice Department prosecutors at Wednesday morning's hearing did not oppose Hinckley's release. Hinckley has been in the care of St. Elizabeth's psychiatric hospital since a jury in 1982 found him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hinckley has been on convalescent leave from St. Elizabeth's and living in Williamsburg, Va., since 2016. He resided with his mother until her death in September. A psychologist retained by prosecutors warned that his mother's death could be a destabilizing event for Hinckley and noted that the gunman has not lived alone in the 40 years since he shot Reagan.

Authorities at the Department of Behavioral Health took a different view and recommended Hinckley's unconditional release. The department has for years on a regular basis produced reports on Hinckley's mental state and compliance with release conditions.

"Those reports have consistently indicated that Mr. Hinckley has been compliant with all the conditions of his release and has remained mentally stable and asymptomatic for mental disease," Friedman wrote in a September order.

Reagan nearly died of the injuries he sustained in the attack. Three others were wounded—White House press secretary James Brady was paralyzed and used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty retired from the force due to lasting nerve damage. Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, who put himself in the line of fire to protect the president, was shot in the stomach but survived the deadly encounter.

The release is effective as of June 15.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: banglist; crime; hinckley; reagan
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
To: Babba Gi

Suicidal Tendencies anticipated Hinckley’s musical career: https://youtu.be/QvM4MH_VnsQ


41 posted on 06/02/2022 4:45:52 AM PDT by Clemenza (In event of a Civil War, a face diaper is a great way to spot the enemy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Clutch Martin; Mr. Blond

Kennedy actually got the ball rolling back in ‘63.


42 posted on 06/02/2022 4:51:14 AM PDT by skimbell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

How is it that a presidential assassin can have the best legal minds in the country for free but the president himself can barely find a lawyer anywhere in the country to defend him against impeachment?


43 posted on 06/02/2022 4:51:41 AM PDT by Antioch (Against stupidity even the Gods struggle in vain….)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

His family home was off of one of the greens at Kingsmill in Williamsburg. I think for a time he was visiting his mother there when he was on some kind of weird probation.


44 posted on 06/02/2022 4:53:36 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Antioch

“How is it that a presidential assassin can have the best legal minds in the country for free but the president himself can barely find a lawyer anywhere in the country to defend him against impeachment?”

That is how the Deep State works.

If you are their friend everything rolls downhill.

If you are their enemy everything is an uphill struggle.


45 posted on 06/02/2022 5:06:36 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

It’s about time. Look at the usual sentence for just shooting 3-4 people, maybe 10 years.

We should not have different sentences for shooting special people. I’m fine with him serving 40 years if that is what most people serve.


46 posted on 06/02/2022 5:10:28 AM PDT by stockpirate (Where Justice Ends Tyranny Begins...Repression Breeds Violence)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

LOL!!


47 posted on 06/02/2022 5:10:51 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (I'm Jimmy Crack Corn and I don't care)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Blond

ACLU did it-—they badgered Reagan.


48 posted on 06/02/2022 5:28:14 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

I hope he never finds out that biden has been sniffing Jodie Foster’s hair...


49 posted on 06/02/2022 5:37:45 AM PDT by null and void (We're trapped between too many questions unanaswered, and too many answers unquestioned...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mark17

I can’t believe they didn’t give Hinckley the Nobel Peace Prize for...well..you know...


50 posted on 06/02/2022 5:50:15 AM PDT by gr8eman (Qui non laborat, non manducet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

Scum bag Hinckley is a hero to the lefty commies. Had Reagan been a lefty, Hinckley would have been executed a long time ago.


51 posted on 06/02/2022 5:59:10 AM PDT by kenmcg (tHE WHOLE )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mark17

“I am sure the democrats are rejoicing.“

Oh yeah! This guy is gonna be a hero.

They’ll give him his own show on CNN or MSNBC and pay him millions..

They may even run him for office.

He’ll be hosting SNL

Get a deal with Netflix..

Have his face pasted on the box of Wheaties.. if they still even make Wheaties…


52 posted on 06/02/2022 6:06:14 AM PDT by joethedrummer (We can't vote our way out of this, folks..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ridesthemiles

The ACLU favors civil liberties for leftists.

Meanwhile they demand everyone else be censored and harassed by the Deep State.


53 posted on 06/02/2022 6:09:10 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

You need to revise your message to Dr. Jill Biden is sleeping with Jodi Foster.


54 posted on 06/02/2022 6:10:14 AM PDT by shotgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Antioch

My favorite classic conspiracy movie—if you have not seen it:

https://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-of-the-Bell-DVD/dp/B00JD9M5IO


55 posted on 06/02/2022 6:10:55 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

” explosive “Devastator” bullet”

Oh please.


56 posted on 06/02/2022 6:39:29 AM PDT by dljordan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson
Marvin - Recognizing that you only posted the article, that it isn't your post, I noted these two items before I stopped reading.

Aaron would go on to remove what turned out to be an explosive “Devastator” bullet from the president — though they didn’t know that at the time.

Reagan was shot with a .22. I'd be amazed if there was a truly exploding bullet in .22 caliber. Amazed.

“The blood in this kind of injury would almost always be bright red, and the blood we saw draining out of his chest was very dark,” Aaron said. “The only way you can get that kind of dark blood in a chest wound is some component of the pulmonary arterial system being damaged.”

Arterial blood is bright red. I don't think I would want this surgeon working on me. Assuming he said any of the above.

57 posted on 06/02/2022 6:48:05 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Don't wish your enemy ill; plan it. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

It was a D.C. jury who acquitted him of attempted murder. There is no rule of law in the District of Columbia.


58 posted on 06/02/2022 6:51:01 AM PDT by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be destroyed.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dljordan; MarvinStinson
I didn't believe Devastator Bullets exist, either, especially in .22. I even posted a reply to Marvin about it, just below yours. Turns out I was wrong. There are links to sites that sell these rounds in .22.

https://firequest.com/DV22.html

Apparently they exist, but per the accounts of the attempted assassination of Reagan, they didn't work (that time, anyway), and are reputed not to work very well in any circumstance.

59 posted on 06/02/2022 6:55:39 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Don't wish your enemy ill; plan it. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: MarvinStinson

Does anyone still wonder why we have so many crazy people with guns?


60 posted on 06/02/2022 7:13:10 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson