How long was John Hinckley in jail? Exploring his unconditional release after assasination attempt on Ronald Reagan

A federal judge awarded John Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, his final blessing for full freedom on Wednesday, concluding a four-decade odyssey.

Hinckley was never sentenced to prison after being judged not guilty due to insanity in 1982. Instead, he spent 34 years undergoing medical treatment at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia began permitting Hinckley to live outside the hospital with restrictions in 2003, and by 2016, he was living in Virginia full-time.

Last year, Friedman said that if Hinckley continued to perform well, all of his restrictions would be eliminated by June 15, and he confirmed that decision on Wednesday. According to the judge, Hinckley displayed no evidence of active mental illness.

Friedman said:

“He’s been scrutinized. He’s passed every test. He’s no longer a danger to himself or others,”

Reagan recovered from the shooting, but White House press secretary James Brady was shot. Brady's death in 2014 was ruled a homicide as a result of the wounds Hinckley had caused him.

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John Hinckley's charges explored

The youngest of three children, John Warnock Hinckley Jr., was born on May 29, 1955, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He grew up in Dallas, Texas, where his father excelled in the oil business.

He enrolled at Texas Tech after graduating in 1973. He appeared to be a sluggish student, only occasionally attending classes and vacillating between studying business and English. He even dropped out of school briefly in 1976 to move to California in the hopes of becoming a songwriter.

Hinckley was back in Texas by 1977. He dabbled in Nazism, began taking antidepressants, and developed an obsession with the film Taxi Driver, which had come out the year before.

The Taxi Driver was seen by Hinckley 15 times. He appeared to relate to Travis Bickle. Hinckley also became obsessed with Jodie Foster, who played a 12-year-old prostitute in the film. He then began brainstorming "historic deeds" to impress Foster.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. arrived in Washington, D.C., to assassinate Ronald Reagan. Hinckley wrote another letter to Jodie Foster just hours before the attempted assassination.

The 25-year-old open fired on the president six times. In his first five shots, he hit White House Press Secretary James Brady, then D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty, and finally Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy.

However, Hinckley's sixth bullet ricocheted off the presidential limo and pierced Reagan's lung under his arm.

As the Secret Service whisked Reagan away, Hinckley was first pressed against a wall. At first, the president appeared to be unharmed. When he began coughing up blood, his bodyguards realized he'd been shot and rushed him to the hospital.

Ronald Reagan was treated for a punctured lung and a broken rib at the hospital and released after twelve days. Brady, Reagan's press secretary, had to be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life because Hinckley's bullet had lodged in his skull.

The 25-year-old gunman was found not guilty because of insanity on June 21, 1982, and was admitted to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

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John Hinckley Planned His “Redemption Tour”

John Hinckley lived at St. Elizabeths from 1982 to 2016. His parents and attorneys, however, began to argue that his mental illness was in remission as the years passed. Hinckley then gradually gained more freedoms until a judge granted him "full-time convalescent leave" in 2016.

By 2021, a judge agreed to lift all other restrictions on his life by June 2022, as long as he remained mentally stable and followed the terms of his release.

John Hinckley now has a YouTube channel where he posts his music and earns money by selling items at an antique store and on the internet.

He announced on his YouTube channel that he has launched his record label, Emporia Records and that his first release will be a 14-song CD of his music. He also uses Twitter to promote his music.