Video: 'Who is John Hinckley?'
(Monday, June 21, 1982, verdict read at 7:50 p.m. EDT; during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan) — John Hinckley Jr. tonight was found not guilty by reason of insanity on all 13 charges of shooting U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other men on Mar. 30, 1981.
The 27-year-old defendant, who was standing, tilted his head back, then forward, then back again and gave a low sigh as he listened to Federal District Judge Barrington D. Parker read, count by count, the verdict that was delivered to the judge by Lawrence H. Coffey, the foreman of a jury of seven women and five men.
The jurors, who looked somber, drawn, and weary as they filed into the courtroom, reached their verdict at 6:20 p.m. EDT. The defendant’s mother, JoAnn, gave an audible cry and, in tears, embraced her husband as the judge quickly read the words “not guilty by reason of insanity” 13 times on charges ranging from attempted assassination of the President to possession of an unlicensed pistol.
Afterward, the three glum-looking prosecutors congratulated Vincent J. Fuller and the three other defense lawyers, who then were hugged by Mr. and Mrs. Hinckley. After reading the verdict at 7:50 p.m. EDT, a stern-faced Judge Parker ordered Federal marshals to take Hinckley away and set July 12, 1982, for “further proceedings in this matter.”
Video: 'Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley 38 years ago'
Reagan was shot and wounded on Mar. 30, 1981, by Hinckley Jr. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession.
Reagan was seriously wounded by a .22 Long Rifle bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding. He was close to death upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital but was stabilized in the emergency room, then underwent emergency exploratory surgery. He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11.
Public outcry over the “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict led to the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which altered the rules for consideration of mental illness of defendants in Federal Criminal Court proceedings in the U.S.
In 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley could be released from psychiatric care as he was no longer considered a threat to himself or others, albeit with many conditions. Those restrictions were unconditionally released in June 2022.
