WASHINGTON -- The man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan has been released from a Washington mental hospital for good, more than 35 years after the shooting.
A spokesman for the District of Columbia's Department of Mental Health said that all patients scheduled to leave St. Elizabeths Hospital early Saturday had been discharged. John Hinckley Jr. was among those scheduled for discharge.
An Associated Press reporter saw a car pull into the driveway of the Hinckley home about 2:30 p.m. Officers from the Kingsmill Police Department chased reporters away.
A federal judge ruled in late July that the 61-year-old Hinckley is not a danger to himself or the public and can live full time at his mother's home in Williamsburg, Va.
At the time of the shooting, Hinckley was a troubled 25-year-old obsessed with actress Jodie Foster and the movie Taxi Driver. He began stalking Reagan, and on March 30, 1981, shot the president, press secretary James Brady, a U.S. Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer. Brady suffered brain damage and died from his injuries in 2014. The others recovered from their injuries.
Hinckley's successful insanity defense before a jury angered many in the country and prompted changes that narrowed the application of that legal strategy. Reagan later forgave Hinckley.
Some in Kingsmill, the gated Williamsburg community Hinckley will call home, said forgiveness is beside the point.
"It's not a matter of forgiveness but a matter of security," said Joe Mann, a vocal critic of the release who lives about a half-mile from Hinckley's mother.
Hinckley had already been visiting Williamsburg for long stretches at a time and preparing for the full-time transition. He'll have to follow a lot of rules while in Williamsburg, but his longtime lawyer Barry Levine said he thinks Hinckley will be a "citizen about whom we can all be proud."
In Williamsburg, Hinckley will have to work or volunteer at least three days a week. He hasn't yet done paid work in Williamsburg, but he has volunteered at a church and a mental health hospital, where he has worked in the library and in food service.
Hinckley's 90-year-old mother lives in the gated community of Kingsmill. The home is on the 13th hole of a golf course. Hinckley's room has a king-size bed and TV and is decorated with paintings he has done of houses and cats, according to court documents. In the past, he has done chores such as cleaning, dishwashing, laundry and leaf-raking. After a year, he may live alone or with roommates.
Hinckley will continue to go to therapy while in Williamsburg. For at least the first six months, he'll see his psychiatrist twice a month and will have to attend weekly group therapy sessions. He'll also see a therapist individually. He'll return to Washington once a month to St. Elizabeths' outpatient department to discuss his mental health and compliance with the conditions of his leave.
Hinckley got a driver's license in 2011. The court order in his case lets him drive within 30 miles of Williamsburg by himself, which gets him to Newport News but not Norfolk. He can go up to 50 miles from the city if accompanied by his mother, sibling or a therapist or social worker. He can also drive to and from Washington once a month for his outpatient meetings.
Hinckley has long considered himself a musician and an artist. He paints and plays the guitar and has been involved in both as part of his therapy. He'll continue to see a music therapist once a month while in Williamsburg. At court hearings in the case in late 2011 and early 2012, lawyers discussed the fact that Hinckley had recently developed an interest in photography.
There are limits to how Hinckley can spend his leisure time. He also can't drink or use illegal drugs. He can surf the Web, but, at least initially, he's not allowed to search for information about his crimes or victims, among other things. He can't have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn without permission.
Hinckley can register to vote in Virginia. He has expressed an interest in voting in the past and tried unsuccessfully to get a ballot in the 1980s and 1990s. Levine told a newspaper in early August that he thinks his client will register to vote. Virginia's deadline to register for the November presidential election is Oct. 17.
Hinckley is barred from talking to the press.
Information for this article was contributed by Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press and by Shawn Boburg and Moriah Balingit of The Washington Post.
A Section on 09/11/2016