DOJ to grant John Hinckley Jr. unconditional release

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – A federal judge said Monday that John Hinckley Junior, the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan four decades ago, can be freed from all his remaining restrictions next year.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman said Hinckley will be a free man next June if he continues to follow court-issued rules and remains mentally stable.

Hinckley, who is now 66 years old, moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, from a Washington hospital in 2016.

The conditions imposed on him by the court have included doctors and therapists overseeing his psychiatric medication and deciding how often he attends therapy sessions.

Hinckley shot and wounded President Reagan in 1981.

At his trial in 1982, jurors decided Hinckley was suffering from acute psychosis and found him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Hickley’s attorney said Monday his client hasn’t displayed symptoms of active mental illness for a long time.

Attorney Barry Levine said, “I think it was well earned, I think John has done exceedingly well over a long period of time, his disease is in full remission, he has done nothing dangerous, there has been a multitude of risk assessments, and risk of danger is exceedingly low, it was described in one of the reports as remote, another report says lowest possible on tested scale.”

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