John Hinckley

John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. president Ronald Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a revolver, Hinckley wounded Reagan, MPD police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and White House Press Secretary James Brady. Brady was left disabled and died 33 years later from his injuries.

Hinckley believed that the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had a fixation after watching her in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remained under institutional psychiatric care for over three decades. Public outcry over the verdict led state legislatures and Congress to narrow their respective insanity defenses.

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. After 2020, a ruling was issued that Hinckley may showcase his artwork, writings, and music publicly under his own name, rather than anonymously as he had in the past. Since then, he has maintained a YouTube channel for his music. His restrictions were unconditionally lifted in June 2022. and moved with his wealthy family to Dallas, Texas, when he was four. Hinckley's father, John Sr. (1925–2008), was the founder, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of the Vanderbilt Energy Corporation. His mother was Jo Ann Hinckley (née Moore; 1925–2021).

John Sr. was a financial supporter of George H.W. Bush in the 1980 election campaign. Bush was Reagan's biggest rival for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Hinckley's older brother, Scott, who became vice president of his father's oil company after graduating from college, was supposed to have dinner at Neil Bush's house the day after the assassination attempt. The connection between the two families has occasionally been used for conspiracy theories, for example by Roger Stone, an author and conservative political consultant.

Hinckley grew up in University Park, Texas, and attended Highland Park High School in Dallas County. After he graduated from high school in 1973, his family, owners of the Hinckley oil company, moved to Evergreen, Colorado, where the new company headquarters was located.

In 1975, Hinckley went to Los Angeles in the hope of becoming a songwriter. His efforts were unsuccessful, and Hinckley wrote to his parents with tales of misfortune and pleas for money. Hinckley spoke of a girlfriend, Lynn Collins, who turned out to be a fabrication. In September 1976, he returned to his parents' home in Evergreen.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hinckley began purchasing weapons and practicing with them. He was prescribed antidepressants and tranquilizers to deal with his emotional problems.

When Foster entered Yale University, Hinckley moved to New Haven, Connecticut, for a short time to stalk her. His parents had given him funds to attend a writing course at Yale. Hinckley never enrolled in the course, but instead used the money to support himself while sending Foster love letters and romantic poems, and repeatedly calling and leaving her messages.

After Nashville, Hinckley flew to Dallas. On October 13, he bought more guns from a Dallas pawn shop. They included the .22 caliber Röhm RG-14 revolver that he used five months later to attempt the assassination of Reagan. The $3,600 from Hinckley's parents was now exhausted and he returned home penniless.

Ronald Reagan assassination attempt

Ronald Reagan waves just before he is shot. From left are advance man Rick Ahearn; Jerry Parr, in a white trench coat, who pushed Reagan into the limousine; press secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head; Reagan; aide Michael Deaver; an unidentified policeman; policeman Thomas Delahanty, who was shot in the neck; and secret service agent Tim McCarthy, who was shot in the chest.

Hinckley arrived in Washington, D.C. on March 29, 1981, after travelling by Greyhound bus from Los Angeles. He spent the night in a hotel. The next morning, he read President Reagan's itinerary in a newspaper and discovered that later that day, Reagan was to be at the Hilton Hotel to address an AFL–CIO conference. Hinckley spent the morning composing a letter to Jodie Foster.

After finishing the letter, he took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel. hit Hinckley in the head and pulled him to the ground. Within two seconds, agent Dennis McCarthy (no relation to agent Timothy McCarthy) dove onto Hinckley, intent on protecting Hinckley, to avoid what happened to Lee Harvey Oswald, who was killed before he could be tried for the assassination of President Kennedy. Another Cleveland-area labor official, Frank J. McNamara, joined Antenucci and started punching Hinckley in the head, striking him so hard he drew blood.

As a result of the shooting, Brady endured a long recuperation period, remaining paralyzed on the left side of his body, until his death on August 4, 2014. Brady's death was ruled a homicide 33 years after the shooting.

Trial

Hinckley was initially held at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he met his defense lawyer Vincent J. Fuller. Hinckley was quickly moved to Federal Correctional Complex, Butner. For four months, he was interviewed by both prosecution and defense. During his incarceration, he tried to kill himself twice, in May and November 1981, respectively. The trial was chiefly devoted to a battle of the psychiatric experts concerning Hinckley's mental state.

For the defense, William T. Carpenter, who diagnosed Hinckley with schizophrenia, testified for three days, opining that Hinckley had amalgamated various personalities from fiction and real life—including Travis Bickle (from Taxi Driver) and John Lennon. Carpenter concluded that Hinckley could not emotionally appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions because he was consumed by the prospect of a "magical unification with Jodie Foster". David Bear testified that Hinckley's actions followed "the very opposite of logic" and that Hinckley did not exhibit signs of malingering. and that he was preoccupied with being famous. Johnson said that Hinckley's interest in Foster was no different than any young man's interest in a movie star.

The insanity instruction provided to the Hinckley jurors was based on the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code:

The burden is on the Government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt either that the defendant was not suffering from a mental disease or defect on March 30, 1981, or else that he nevertheless had substantial capacity on that date both to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law and to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. — Jury instructions.

Aftermath Hinckley's Röhm RG-14 revolver that he bought in Dallas. Behind it is the armored-glass limousine window hit by one of its bullets, on display at the US Secret Service's restricted-access museum, 2022. Soon after his trial, Hinckley wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world" and was disappointed that Foster did not reciprocate his love. In 1985, Hinckley's parents wrote Breaking Points, a book detailing their son's mental condition. Additionally, since Brady's death occurred more than 33 years after the shooting, prosecution of Hinckley was barred under the year and a day law in effect in the District of Columbia at the time of the shooting.

Effect on insanity defenses Before the Hinckley case, the insanity defense had been used in less than 2% of all American felony cases and was unsuccessful in almost 75% of those trials. As a consequence of public outcry over the Hinckley verdict, the United States Congress and a number of states enacted legislation making the insanity defense more restrictive. Congress rejected the Model Penal Code test, and by 2006, only 14 states retained it. Eighty percent of insanity-defense reforms between 1978 and 1990 occurred shortly after the Hinckley verdict.

For the first time, Congress passed a law stipulating the insanity test to be used in all federal criminal trials, the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984. The IDRA excised the Model Penal Code's volitional element in favor of an exclusively cognitive test, At the state level, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah abolished the defense altogether.

Hinckley's acquittal led to the popularization of the "guilty but mentally ill" (GBMI) verdict, typically used when a defendant's mental illness did not result in sufficient impairment to warrant insanity. A defendant receiving a GBMI verdict generally receives an identical sentence to a defendant receiving a guilty verdict, but the designation allows for a medical evaluation and treatment. but this is not the rule in most states.

Treatment

Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. which required judicial authorization. The Reagan family frequently spoke out against these requests. In 1986, a judge denied Hinckley's request to be transferred to a less restrictive ward.

However, Miller also revealed that Hinckley had written to serial killer Ted Bundy, sought the address of Charles Manson, and received a letter from Manson family member Lynette Fromme. The hospital subsequently withdrew the request for "administrative" reasons, though it emphasized that the "clinical" assessment was unchanged. In 1992, Hinckley again submitted a request for additional privileges, but he later withdrew that request. During this period, St. Elizabeths gradually expanded Hinckley's privileges, by allowing off-site trips under custodial supervision. Prosecutors objected to this ruling, saying that Hinckley was still a danger to others and had unhealthy and inappropriate thoughts about women. Hinckley had recorded a song, "Ballad of an Outlaw", which the prosecutors claimed was "reflecting suicide and lawlessness".

On March 29, 2011, the day before the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt, Hinckley's attorney filed a court petition requesting more freedom for his client, including additional unsupervised visits to the Virginia home of Hinckley's mother, Jo Ann. On November 30, a hearing in Washington was held to consider whether he could live full-time outside the hospital. The Justice Department opposed this, stating that Hinckley still posed a danger to the public. Justice Department counsel argued that Hinckley had been known to deceive his doctors in the past. By December 2013, the court ordered that visits be extended to his mother, who lives near Williamsburg. Hinckley was permitted up to eight 17-day visits, with evaluation after the completion of each one.

Hinckley has been prescribed sertraline (Zoloft) and risperidone (Risperdal).

Release and later activities On July 27, 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley could be released from St. Elizabeths on August 5, as he was no longer considered a threat to himself or others. Patti Davis, one of Reagan's daughters, and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, both denounced the decision to grant Hinckley unsupervised release. Hinckley's activity at the bookstore was documented by an undercover agent of the Secret Service, which maintains him under constant surveillance.

Hinckley was released from institutional psychiatric care on September 10, 2016, with many conditions—including that he was required to live full-time at his mother's home in Williamsburg, Virginia, to work at least three days a week and record his browser history. In November 2018, Judge Friedman ruled Hinckley could move out of his mother's house in Virginia and live on his own, upon location approval from his doctors. On September 27, 2021, a federal judge approved Hinckley for unconditional release, beginning June 2022. Michael Reagan, Reagan's son, spoke out in favor of the decision, while Davis again denounced it. On June 15, 2022, Hinckley was fully released from court restrictions. In a June 2022 interview with CBS, Hinckley expressed remorse for his actions, and apologized to the Reagan and Brady families, as well as Jodie Foster.

On July 17, 2024, following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Hinckley tweeted, "Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance." On April 26, 2026, following the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, Hinckley criticized the lack of security at the Washington Hilton and stated it was "spooky" that another such incident "took place at the same hotel as mine did."

Music As a young adult, Hinckley made unsuccessful efforts to become a songwriter. Years later, he posted music online anonymously but received little interest. In October 2020, a federal court ruled that Hinckley may showcase and market his artwork, writings, and music publicly under his own name, but his treatment team could rescind the display privilege. Hinckley created a YouTube channel where, since December 2020, he has posted videos of himself performing original songs with a guitar and covers of songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan, and the Elvis Presley song "Can't Help Falling in Love".

In January 2022, Hinckley announced that he was looking for members for his own band. On June 15, 2022, after his restrictions were unconditionally lifted, it was announced that what would have been Hinckley's first live performance in front of a physically present audience at a Brooklyn, New York, venue had been canceled over security concerns for "vulnerable communities" after it had received threats. Three other planned concerts that summer, in Chicago, Hamden, Connecticut, and Williamsburg, Virginia were cancelled because of threats to the venues. In July 2022, Asbestos Records decided to release some of Hinckley's songs on vinyl later that year. The album was released on July 12, 2023.

Following his release, Hinckley took up painting, using his pet cat as a reference. As of May 2023, he had sold several pieces on eBay. In December 2024, Hinckley announced that he would open a music store in Williamsburg, Virginia, but those plans were quickly scrapped by Hinckley due to negative publicity and security concerns.