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John Hinckley Jr to be RELEASED


mango_fandango

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Long story short:

John Hinckley Jr was obsessed by actress Jodie Foster after watching her in Taxi Driver. He stalked her for some time, writing letters and so on. In March 1981, he decided to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan by shooting him as he left a hotel where he had addressed a conference. He was detained and sent to a psychiatric hospital. He is now set to be released last month.

He's been living with his mother for 17 days a month under strict conditions. Doubtless these will be kept up, but I hope Jodie will be kept super safe; she hates being reminded of Hinckley Jr in interviews and so on. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36907089

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I'm surprised by this news, since you'd think a would be presidential assassin would be kept under lock and key. Hinckley's mother must be quite elderly and I question whether she could monitor his behavior adequately. He himself must be pretty old, so I don't think he could get a job even without his past baggage. Then again, I was surprised Squeaky Fromme was released from prison, but she's seems to be law abiding as far as I can tell. Maybe being in prison helped break Manson's hold over her, if nothing else.

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The problem is that he was found "not guilty by reason of insanity," a verdict that only permits the court to hold him so long as there is medical evidence that he poses a danger to himself or others.  There is no punitive action permitted under such a verdict.

It appears that he's going to have some significant restrictions on him for the time being, and I expect that the secret service will tail him for the rest of his life.  He hasnt been a model patient and has had a few noted violations of his release, but in the end the court is only permitted to balance the patient's needs vs future dangerousness.  

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45 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I'm surprised by this news, since you'd think a would be presidential assassin would be kept under lock and key. Hinckley's mother must be quite elderly and I question whether she could monitor his behavior adequately. He himself must be pretty old, so I don't think he could get a job even without his past baggage. Then again, I was surprised Squeaky Fromme was released from prison, but she's seems to be law abiding as far as I can tell. Maybe being in prison helped break Manson's hold over her, if nothing else.

What fresh hell is this?? While they're at it, they might as well let Mark David Chapman out, too. Sometimes the US Justice system makes absolutely NO sense at all.

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57 minutes ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I'm surprised by this news, since you'd think a would be presidential assassin would be kept under lock and key. Hinckley's mother must be quite elderly and I question whether she could monitor his behavior adequately. He himself must be pretty old, so I don't think he could get a job even without his past baggage. Then again, I was surprised Squeaky Fromme was released from prison, but she's seems to be law abiding as far as I can tell. Maybe being in prison helped break Manson's hold over her, if nothing else.

His mother is 90.

She lives in a very nice gated community in Williamsburg, VA. There was a Washington Post article recently that included complaints from other residents in that community, who were less than thrilled that he spent so much time there.

I am also not pleased that he's being released, but @Buzzard is correct, the insanity plea meant that there could be no punitive action. I had also read that he wasn't a model patient.

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1 hour ago, Buzzard said:

It appears that he's going to have some significant restrictions on him for the time being, and I expect that the secret service will tail him for the rest of his life.  He hasnt been a model patient and has had a few noted violations of his release, but in the end the court is only permitted to balance the patient's needs vs future dangerousness.  

A bit of insider gossip: I know someone who works at the psychiatric hospital he is in. She didn't work one on one with him but dealt with him in some group settings. She said he was a super douche who thinks he is brilliant and smarter than everyone. (And she had quite nice things to say about the other patients, including Susan Smith). 

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If his mother is 90, she may not live much longer. Wonder what will happen if/when she does die. He himself is 61 according to Wikipedia.

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1 hour ago, mango_fandango said:

Long story short:

John Hinckley Jr was obsessed by actress Jodie Foster after watching her in Taxi Driver. He stalked her for some time, writing letters and so on. In March 1981, he decided to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan by shooting him as he left a hotel where he had addressed a conference. He was detained and sent to a psychiatric hospital. He is now set to be released last month.

He's been living with his mother for 17 days a month under strict conditions. Doubtless these will be kept up, but I hope Jodie will be kept super safe; she hates being reminded of Hinckley Jr in interviews and so on. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36907089

Set to be released NEXT month. Grammar fail!

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4 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

If his mother is 90, she may not live much longer. Wonder what will happen if/when she does die. He himself is 61 according to Wikipedia.

Yeah except for my maternal Grandpa all of my Grandparents got up around 90 and were all in reasonably good health right up to just a few months or less before they died.  My paternal Grandma was reasonably well at Christmas 2014, none of us had any idea how rapidly she would decline and pass one month later.   

I wonder if there are any other family members who may be taking care of him after she passes.  I have an aunt who so far has been the legal guardian for both my great aunt and now her half-sister.   I wonder if there's another go-to person like that in their family who has agreed to be a guardian for Hinckley.   My great aunt has a disabled son, I'm not sure if she's his legal guardian or not - though if she's acting as a guardian for my aunt I tend to doubt it - but they've been doing a lot of work with him to make sure he doesn't slip through the cracks and wind up homeless.

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5 hours ago, LadyCrow1313 said:

 

What fresh hell is this?? While they're at it, they might as well let Mark David Chapman out, too. Sometimes the US Justice system makes absolutely NO sense at all.

I frequently get Hinckley and Chapman mixed up; when I saw the thread title, I had to stop and think about which one he was.  I also wonder what James Brady's family thinks of this (didn't read the link yet--still at work and trying not to be too obvious about wasting time.....bad me).

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OMFG WTH! A would be presidential assassin and killer is going to be turned loose. This makes no sense even with the insanity verdict. Nope, no sense at all.

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On 7/27/2016 at 10:38 AM, mango_fandango said:

If his mother is 90, she may not live much longer. Wonder what will happen if/when she does die. He himself is 61 according to Wikipedia.

In one article I read on this, it was said that his mother and his siblings "pledged full support" so I am assuming that means that the sibs would take over his monitoring in the case of the mother's death.  IMHO, he's damn lucky that he has family willing to do this so he can get out.  I understand that he's their family member and they can love and support him no matter what he's done (and there's nothing wrong with that btw) but they are committing themselves to monitor him and keep him in line.  That's where I think he's lucky because it would be totally understandable for any of them to say no to that kind of responsibility, 

I have my reservations on releasing this guy, but understand as a result of Buzzard's post, that they have no reason to keep him.   

 

 

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That's unfortunate. I fear this guy will do something else. Of course, I could be watching too many cop shows on ID channel...:my_blush:

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I'm not sure what 'strict conditions' means, since he's been spotted over the years out on his own in Williamsburg, wandering around the bookstores and other shops now and then. Maybe someone is actually with him but at a slight distance, just keeping an eye on him?  I hope that's the case, because I'm in Williamsburg myself quite frequently (going there next month for a few days, in fact), and while I haven't seen him yet, I'd sure hate to be browsing the magazine racks at Barnes and Noble in Merchant's Square and suddenly find myself standing next to the man who tried to kill a president. :pb_eek:

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3 hours ago, Loveday said:

I'm not sure what 'strict conditions' means, since he's been spotted over the years out on his own in Williamsburg, wandering around the bookstores and other shops now and then. Maybe someone is actually with him but at a slight distance, just keeping an eye on him?  I hope that's the case, because I'm in Williamsburg myself quite frequently (going there next month for a few days, in fact), and while I haven't seen him yet, I'd sure hate to be browsing the magazine racks at Barnes and Noble in Merchant's Square and suddenly find myself standing next to the man who tried to kill a president. :pb_eek:

On NPR they said he is watched by the FBI when he's out and about.

They also said he's supposed to give an itinerary for his movements and doesn't always stick to it, so it seems like the agents don't intervene unless he appears to be doing something dangerous.

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56 minutes ago, Mercer said:

On NPR they said he is watched by the FBI when he's out and about.

They also said he's supposed to give an itinerary for his movements and doesn't always stick to it, so it seems like the agents don't intervene unless he appears to be doing something dangerous.

Well, I feel slightly reassured now, thanks. And as far as I know, he hasn't done anything worse (since shooting Reagan, that is) than not sticking to that itinerary, so there's that, anyway.:pb_confused:

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They also said on the radio that one of the times he deviated from where he was supposed to be, he went to a bookstore and was staring at a table of books about presidential assassinations. Not illegal or directly dangerous, but rather concerning given his criminal history.

That said, in my opinion he is probably not a danger to the average citizen. I think he would be much more likely to attempt to go after a public figure again for the notoriety than just to try to murder some random person in the street.

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