Said U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman, quoted in "John Hinckley, who shot Reagan, to be freed from oversight/A federal judge says the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan four decades ago can be released unconditionally from the restrictions he's been living under next year if he remains mentally stable" (ABC News).
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42 comments:
"If he hadn't tried to kill the president... ."
Kind of a big "if" isn't it?
What an odd thing to say. If he hadn't tried to kill the president.... But he did, that's the whole point. That's why he was locked up. It's why we know who he is.
Maybe when he gets out he can room with Sirhan Sirhan.
"If he hadn't tried to kill the president..." Yeah, and if Grandma had had balls, she would have been Grandpa.
“If he hadn't tried to kill the president, he would have been unconditionally released a long, long, long time ago,"
I think this says more about the judge than it does about Hinckley.
Not just the president.
What changed? Did Jody Foster recently make her feelings about Trump clear enough for the Deep State to release the psycho?
I think what the judge was trying to say is "if the intended victim had been anyone but the President..."
Jodi Foster is the one with something to worry about.
The guy was acquitted due to the acute psychosis he was suffering at the time. There's no reason to spend another dime of taxpayers' money on him if he is no longer a danger to him self or others.
"Yeah, and if Grandma had had balls, she would have been Grandpa."
Not necessarily.
I'm sure Jodie Foster is delighted.... :(
Well, it's not like the guy sent out some homophobic tweets. (We have to save serious punishments for serious crimes!)
See, thing is, Reagan was a republican.
"...everybody is comfortable now..."
I think the judge (a Clinton appointee, btw) doesn't quite have a handle on what "everybody" means.
I hope he will still be living under restrictions regarding contact with Jodie Foster. While such restrictions may no longer be necessary, they place absolutely no burden on him unless they are necessary.
Jodie Foster could not be reached for comment.
Maybe other institutionalized people get out far too easily. That could also explain the difference.
Will district court judges the use the same legal reasoning with those charged for January 6th? If so, then the charges should be dismissed, or maybe those charged released with a minor fine or time served for trespassing or property destruction.
But have to say, an assassination attempt that very nearly succeeded is much worse than what actually happened on January 6th.
He also shot 3 other people, with James Bradys death 3 decades later ruled a homicide them
Poor Jodie Foster.
“Would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley, Jr. has been granted unconditional release in June 2022 by a federal judge. Hinckley -- who injured then-President Ronald Reagan and three other people in 1981 outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. —- also apologized Monday to the people he shot, the American people, and Jodie Foster, whose attention he tried to win with the act.
“In a letter sent before the attack, Hinckley, now 66, confessed that his motive in attempting to kill the President was to impress Foster, whom he’d been stalking after watching her in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. ‘This letter is being written only an hour before I leave for the Hilton Hotel,’ he wrote. ‘Jodie, I’m asking you to please look into your heart and at least give the chance, with this historical deed, to gain your love and respect.’”
Old commenter Ampersand, in another forum, wants to let Hinkley know that Joe Biden is dating Jodie Foster.
"If he hadn't tried to kill a Republican president. . . " FIFY
Newsom will cite this when he doesn't block Sirhan's release.
"But everybody is comfortable now" is a damned lie. I'm not comfortable with releasing him from restrictions, or releasing him at all, or even letting him live out his life in jail. He should have been executed within a year of committing his damned-near-successful murder attempt. And I'm sure there are tens of millions of other Americans who are not comfortable, either. Judge needs to be removed from the bench for lying.
Why am I certain that the same would not be said had Hinckley tried to kill…say….Jimma Carter or Bubba Clinton? For most lefties, the key defect in Hinkley’s act was his imperfect aim and his inability to finish the job.
- Krumhorn
I read he wanted to impress Jodi Foster? she is not interested in boys/men anyway? had that been known then!!??
Jodie Foster is unavailable for comment? I seem to recall that she was the object of his fixation. Has that been resolved?
It must be nice to be a federal judge with a lifetime appointment to be able to set someone like Hinckley free and show how sophisticated you are. Unfortunately, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. I were Jodie Foster I would hire extra security. This guy will always be a bomb about to go off. Sad but true.
I'd worry about safety of Jodie Foster, who he tried to impress with killing the president. He may be a bit disappointed aka seriously pissed off with spending long time in jail for a lesbian.
" . . . And if he kills the current president, well, people will be more relieved than anything. Seriously, have you looked at Biden's poll numbers?"
"Other than THAT, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"
In mental health we often say that you have to be crazy to go for an insanity defense, because if you succeed we will own your ass forever. This is a great example. I have had a number of patients who threatened presidents or presidential candidates over the years (a function of the NH Primary), though none who actually shot anyone.
Guy's been institutionalized. The supervision provides him a measure of stability. Remove that support, and he will falter. Odds are high he will go off his meds, or even if he stays on them, he will not be able to function on his own.
I never thought he’d be released while a Democrat was in the White House.
No. The right answer was to never release all those other murderers and attempted murderers. Two million wrongs don’t make a right.
If he remains mentally stable until he's released, then I would say he is mentally stable enough to get released. After that, pick a card.
This is happening now because Reagan, Nancy, VP Bush 41, and most of the cabinet and major players from back then are all dead, so the judge probably figures there's no one left to care.
veni vidi vici (12:53pm):
No one left to care?
Jim Brady is dead, but Wikipedia tells me that Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and DC policeman Thomas Delahanty, the other two who were shot that day, are still alive, aged 72 and 85/86 respectively.
They quote the latter: "Delahanty was interviewed in 2016 about the release of John Hinckley Jr., and responded: 'That's their decision, I guess. I'm probably not too enthused with it, but what can you do?'"
Also the former, again in 2016: "'I don't have to agree with it, but I expected it. There are very few cases that people, after a period of time, are not viewed as no longer being a danger to themselves or others. I hope they're right about it. It's a big decision. I give the judge credit. That's what he gets paid for.'"
That's two who care, though neither seemed at all hopeful in 2016. Did the current judge bother to ask them what they think now?
What would Clarice Starling do?
Amadeus 48: "What would Clarice Starling do?"
Since Starling is FBI, she would act as a contract killer for organized crime bosses and use her position to frame Trump voters.
Sorry. For the sake of my own sanity I stopped caring about this sort of thing decades ago. After my state re!eased a man who raped a woman, chopped off her arms, and left her for dead in a ditch.
Think she was "comfortable" with it?
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