More freedom for John Hinckley Jr. to be debated

[artfuldodger]

[nico]

CNN

edition.cnn.com/2011/11/29/justice/reagan-attacker-hinckley-hearing/index.html

Including:
edition.cnn.com/2011/US/03/18/reagan.hinckley.foster.gallery/index.html

[nico]

30 years ago, John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Throughout the years, Hinckley has been given more freedom, including visits to his mother (who is 86 years old) and other freedoms such as going to the movies at a public theater on his own. His lawyers are currently trying to ask for even more, perhaps indefinite freedom. Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan, speaks about the issue to Chris Matthews.

John Hinckley's motive for trying to assassinate President Reagan was to impress and get the attention of actress Jodie Foster, whom he had seen in the movie, Taxi Driver (a movie which was also about a psychopath who tries to assassinate the President). Foster was not nearly as well known of an actress as she is today -- she was only 14 years old when the movie was filmed. The story of John Hinckley and the motives of his attempted assassination propelled Foster to the world spotlight instantly.

Funny Note: At the 2:25 mark, it appears Chris Matthews forgets his lines, or has trouble reading the teleprompter.

Hardball With Chris Matthews, MSNBC
Dec 1, 2011

[artfuldodger]

Thanks, nico.

[nico]

Crazy in love: Ronald Reagan shooter John Hinckley Jr finds romance in mental hospital and was ENGAGED to another patient
By Michael Zennie
Last updated at 7:56 PM on 2nd December 2011

The psycho who tried to gun down President Ronald Reagan has apparently moved on from his obsession with actress Jodie Foster and enjoyed physical relationships with at least three women at the Washington mental hospital where he has been locked up for 30 years.

One woman, 45-year-old Cynthia Bruce, was so smitten with John Hinckley Jr while both of them were in St Elizabeths Hospital that she agreed to marry him. The pair even carried on the relationship when she got out.

Doctors have been laying out the love life of the 56-year-old would-be presidential assassin at lengthy hearings over whether Hinckley can spent more time outside of the hospital and eventually be released to live with his mother in nearby Williamsburg, Virginia.

His doctors say he is no longer a threat to himself or others and has shown he is prepared to become a normal member of the public.

The bizarre romantic habits of Hinckley are especially important to prosecutors, who are fighting his release, because his obsession with Miss Foster led him to open fire on President Reagan in 1981.

Dr Tyler Jones, one of Hinckley's doctors, said during the court proceedings this week that Hinckley had been engaged to a woman he called 'Miss CB.'

However, the online magazine The Daily identified the shooter's flame as Cynthia Bruce, a former patient at the hospital. The pair were pictured sharing snacks and sodas together in public during one of Hinckley's unsupervised short-term releases earlier this year.

Hinckley had given the woman several rings after their relationship began more than a year ago.

However, Dr Jones said Hinckley broke up with her because she stopped being physically intimate with him. She, apparently, got upset when he told her he would be spending more time at his mother's house in Virginia and less time with her.

The would-be assassin was also romantically involved with a heavily psychotic woman Dr Jones called 'Miss X.' The woman was so mentally ill that Hinckley could not communicate with her.

However, Dr Jones said, he enjoyed her physical affection.

That relationship was a mixture of 'poor judgement' and a 'desire for affection, the psychiatrist said.

The Daily also reported Hinckley was involved with another patient who was in a relationship with another man at the time.

Doctors say Hinckley tried to join a singles group outside the hospital, but had to quit when one of the participants became uncomfortable with his presence there and asked him to leave.

On March 30, 1981, Hinckley waited for the president to leave the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. When he walked out the door, Hinckley opened fire with a .22-caliber revolver, hitting a police officer, a Secret Service Agent and press secretary James Brady. A bullet ricocheted off President Reagan's limousine and struck the president in the chest.

All of the victims survived the attack.

Hinckley was found not guilty of the assassination attempt by reason of mental insanity and committed to St. Elizabeths for rehabilitation.

The revelations about Hinckley's love life came days after prosecutors revealed he was spotted browsing Barnes & Noble for books about his former target and presidential assassinations on one of his unsupervised releases from the hospital.

Prosecutors said Hinckley has engaged in repeated deception when away from the hospital, telling doctors he went to see a movie. Secret Service agents tailing him found him in the bookstore on July 24, 2011.

'Mr Hinckley has a long history of deception and misconduct,' Sarah Chasson, an assistant U.S. attorney told Judge Paul Friedman, who is weighing Hinckley's request for more time away from the hospital and eventual release.

'Is this deception new? Of course not.'

Chasson also said that Hinckley lied to doctors when he said he went to another movie a few weeks later and about his shopping trips.

While he went to the movie theater box office on the two occasions mentioned, Chasson said, he never bought tickets and instead meandered around a nearby restaurant and bookstore.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069282/Crazy-love-Ronald-Reagan-shooter-John-Hinkley-Jr-finds-romance-psyche-hospital-ENGAGED-patient.html

[artfuldodger]

[nico]

They keep it simple in the Newport area ...

Hinckley hasn't earned freedom
Tamara Dietrich

Hampton Roads, picture this:

You join a local singles group and the first guy who takes a shine to you is John Hinckley Jr.

You visit your grandmother in hospice and John Hinckley Jr. is in her room, strumming a guitar.

You're in a bookstore and glance up to see John Hinckley Jr. leafing through a book on presidential assassinations.

These scenarios aren't as outlandish as you might think.

Hinckley's doctors and lawyers are trying to spring him from the psychiatric ward he was committed to after he shot up President Ronald Reagan and three others in 1981 in a crazed attempt to get famous and impress the actress Jodie Foster.

Lately, to help him transition and normalize, a doctor testified last week, they've been urging him to make friends during his monthly visits to his mother's home in Williamsburg.

So Hinckley tried to join a singles group, but "was asked to leave" when one participant freaked out.

He was ready to play his guitar for hospice patients, but the hospice declined for fear of negative publicity.

And when he thought no one was paying attention, he slipped into a Barnes & Noble and browsed books on Reagan and presidential assassinations.

Aside from the obvious, the significance of the bookstore visit is profound because Hinckley wasn't supposed to be there at the time. His mother had dropped him off to see the movie "Captain America," but after she left, Hinckley slipped into the bookstore, instead. Movie over, he left to go sit on a bench near the theater till she picked him up. Later, he raved to his treatment team about the film he never saw.

In other words, Hinckley lied and deceived. Not once, but several times in July and September. If Secret Service agents hadn't been monitoring him, no one would have been the wiser.

His attorney Barry Levine downplayed the significance at last week's hearing, calling it a foolish mistake and insisting Hinckley is "flawed … but fundamentally decent."

First, Hinckley can't afford mistakes, even foolish ones. A condition of his visitation privileges to Williamsburg is that he tell doctors and the Secret Service exactly where he'll be whenever he's on his own.

Certainly he understands the importance of being utterly transparent and trustworthy, since his previous behavior has understandably incited so many trust issues with the public.

Second, speaking of trust issues, Hinckley had family visits yanked back in 2000 after he smuggled materials about Foster back into the hospital.

And third, Hinckley may not be making any new friends in Williamsburg yet, but he's quite the player at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington.

CNN reports that the director of psychiatry testified Hinckley just ended an engagement with a former fellow patient, and also had a relationship with another patient described as so psychotic Hinckley had difficulty communicating with her, except, shall we say, on a physical level.

It was "poor judgment," the doctor said, stemming from Hinckley's "desire for affection."

The things a boy will do for love.

According to testimony, Hinckley takes drugs every day that treat schizophrenia, mania and depression. His doctors say his illness is "in remission."

But if he wins release and comes to live with his elderly mother in Williamsburg as an outpatient, can he even be trusted to take those meds every day when he can't be trusted to sit in a movie theater?

Here's Hinckley's mindset when he's not in remission, evidenced in these excerpts from a speech he wrote during his 1982 trial and sent to a New York Times reporter:

"I seem to have a need to hurt those people that I love the most. This is true in relation to my family and to Jodie Foster. I love them so much but I have this compulsion to destroy them. On March 30, 1981, I was asking to be loved. I was asking my family to take me back and I was asking Jodie Foster to hold me in her heart. My assassination attempt was an act of love. I'm sorry love has to be so painful."

You know what else is painful? Consequences. Especially when you shoot a president.

www.dailypress.com/news/dp-nws-tamara-hinckley-1204-20111203,0,5492249.column

[artfuldodger]

Life sucks, Mario.

[artfuldodger]

I would love to find more pictures of her doing sporty things, or at least carrying a tennis racket.

[munze]

Na I want a piccie of her in a St Trinians uniform with a Field Hockey stick lacross stick/net somehow I think it would be sooooo her heheheheehe

if you don't know who or what St Trinians is Look it up was a cartoon series orginally by Ronald Searle an then became a series of movies. If you do I think you will understand what I mean (evil giggling in background ((trying to keep up reputation of crazy fans)) )

[munze]

Ahhh the role models of my school years can't you just see a younger JF
weilding a hockey stick with highly dishevelled uniform???/


OOhhh santa


Thank you mario ;D

[artfuldodger]

I added St Trinians to my netflix list. That I want to see. Thanks.

And Mario, that clip is too personal for me. (lesbian wink)

[munze]

Thanks Santa Mario needs to practice her technique a bit more hehehehehe but I would happily tackle her on field anytime hehehehheheh

[munze]

Oh don't want seem greedy Santa Mario but ummmmm if you could I still wouldn't mind the previous mentioned gift on my christmas wish list ;-) Ta

[munze]

Na can't trust the elves over there they will steal my pressie before it even gets on the sled, ;-)

[munze]

Oh DJ Chat sorry thought you meant the other place my bad sorry problem is I'm usually the only one around when I'm posting was in early today but might come an have a sticky ;-) brfore christmas hehehehehe sorry about the mix up read it wrong

[munze]

Na won't work I believe the family usually disappears somewhere skiing this time of year and I don't do Yeti impersonations too cold now Bunyip impersonations in the warmth are a different story. Bunyip = aussie version of bigfoot, yeti, abominable snowperson that kind of thing

[artfuldodger]

*draws a snow angel in the imaginary snow*

[michelle]

I hope it's not yellow snow...

[artfuldodger]

I wouldn't care if it was.

[nico]

Fmr. Assist. US Attorney on Hinckley: "Disaster Waiting to Happen"

By Ronald Kessler

A new law is needed to detain John W. Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, Joe diGenova, the principal assistant U.S. attorney in Washington during Hinckley’s prosecution, tells Newsmax.

When Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting Reagan, everyone thought he would be imprisoned in a mental institution for life. Incredibly, that has not been the case.

Presently confined to Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, Hinckley is allowed to periodically stay with his mother in the Williamsburg, Va. area. His lawyer has been pushing to have him freed entirely.
Image of John Hinkley after Ronald Reagan shooting.
John Hinckley at the time of his arrest.


That would be a “disaster waiting to happen,” diGenova, who became U.S. attorney in Washington, tells Newsmax. DiGenova says a new law is needed to make sure Hinckley and others who assassinate or try to assassinate presidents never get out.

Because the Secret Service considers Hinckley to be a continuing threat, agents are assigned to follow him during his furloughs. That is a colossal waste of taxpayer money, diGenova says.

As a result of the surveillance, “Agents are taken away from protecting Barack Obama, our current president,” says diGenova. “It is disgraceful that anyone can possibly think about releasing a man who so obviously continues to be severely mentally ill. That is not acceptable in a free society.”

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 1981 shooting of Reagan, Reagan press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and D.C. police officer James Delahanty. Under a civil or involuntary commitment, a judge is bound to consider the recommendations of psychiatrists to determine if Hinckley can be let out permanently or released temporarily for furloughs.

Based on those recommendations, U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman has been allowing Hinckley to visit his mother. Next month, Friedman will consider Hinckley’s request to be freed entirely.

As noted in my book “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect,” the Secret Service compiles a list of possible threats. A Class III threat is defined as an individual who wants to carry out an assassination and has the capability of doing it. These individuals are constantly checked on. Hinckley is classified as a Class III threat.

During one of Hinckley’s furloughs to Williamsburg, a Secret Service agent spotted Hinckley, who was supposed to be going to a movie, walking to the theater and then going into a nearby bookstore. According to what Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Chasson told Friedman at a hearing, Hinckley “entered the Barnes & Noble nearby where he began to browse. Mr. Hinckley looked at books about President Reagan and about presidential assassins. He then shuttled back and forth between the bookstore and the movie theater.”

Hinckley later misled his treatment team, telling them that he had seen “Captain America,” even raving about the film, Chasson told the judge.

Chasson said the episode proved that Hinckley “will do whatever he wants and then not tell the truth about it.” It also revealed flaws in the hospital’s treatment proposal, she said, because it would rely heavily on Hinckley to report his own whereabouts and activities.

Along the same lines, Hinckley in 2009 looked up photos of his female dentist on the Internet. He feigned a toothache to try to see her and claimed falsely that she had invited him to view her photos.

After shooting Reagan, Hinckley wrote a letter to a reporter boasting that his assassination attempt was “the greatest love offering in the history of the world.” He said that neither hospitalization nor imprisonment could diminish his “historical” shooting of President Reagan to win the actress Jodie Foster’s love.

DiGenova says that whether Hinckley is freed or simply allowed longer visits, the Secret Service will be obliged to watch him.

“The Secret Service is never going to rely on John Hinckley saying that he is taking his medicine,” diGenova says. “They are going to have to have agents in Williamsburg watching his house constantly. The cost to the American people is going to be astronomic.”

As pointed out in my story "Secret Service Cost-Cutting Leaves President Vulnerable," the Secret Service tends to passively accept whatever duties are thrust upon it. As a result, the agency has not pushed for any change in the law that results in agents’ babysitting a deceitful Hinckley at taxpayer expense.

Calling Friedman an excellent judge, diGenova says he doubts he will free Hinckley any time soon. However, diGenova says Friedman has been allowing Hinckley out on furloughs because the law requires him to listen to Hinckley’s psychiatrists who say he is no threat.

“The psychiatrists at Saint Elizabeths . . . want John Hinckley to take these trips and to eventually live alone to prove their theories of so-called remission or cure,” says diGenova, a partner in diGenova & Toensing. “John Hinckley will be mentally ill for the rest of his life. He is incurable.”

DiGenova says Congress should pas a law that requires lifetime incarceration in a mental institution for anyone found not guilty by reason of insanity of assassinating or attempting to assassinate a president. Because the law would govern a civil or involuntary commitment, it could be applied retroactively to Hinckley, diGenova says.

“To put any president at risk with him self-medicating in Williamsburg is absurd,” diGenova says. “I just don’t think that we can allow somebody who tried to nullify an election with a bullet to roam freely with no supervision but himself.”

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, "The Secrets of the FBI," has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email.

www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/hinckley-reagan-assasignation/2011/12/21/id/421801

[artfuldodger]

Thanks, nico.

[nico]

Dear Jodie
A historical dramatization of the events of March 30th, 1981-- the day Reagan was shot. John Hinckley, an introverted loner, professes his love in his letter to the girl of his dreams, proclaiming to prove his devotion in one historic act. Produced for NYU Tisch High School Summer Filmmaker's Workshop 2006.