John Hinckley Jr is freed from court oversight 41 years after he shot President Ronald Reagan – Daily Mail

John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was freed from court oversight on Wednesday, officially concluding four decades of intense supervision by legal and mental health professionals.

‘After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!,’ he wrote on Twitter shortly after 12 p.m.

The lifting of all restrictions had been expected since late September. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington said he’d free Hinckley on June 15 if he continued to remain mentally stable in the community in Virginia where he has lived since 2016.

Hinckley, who was acquitted by reason of insanity in 1982, spent two decades before that in a Washington mental hospital. Judge Friedman let Hinckley go live with his mom in Virginia in 2016 before gradually easing restrictions on him and finally allowing him to live alone in 2018.

Freedom for Hinckley will include giving a concert – he plays guitar and sings – in Brooklyn, New York, that’s scheduled for July. He’s already gained nearly 30,000 followers on Twitter and YouTube in recent months as the judge loosened Hinckley’s restrictions before fully lifting all of them.

But the graying 67-year-old is far from being the household name that he became after shooting and wounding the 40th U.S. president – and several others – outside a Washington hotel. Today, historians say Hinckley is at best a question on a quiz show and someone who unintentionally helped build the Reagan legend and inspire a push for stricter gun control.

John Hinckley Jr., 67 the man who attempted to assassinate former President Ronald Reagan in 1981 when he was 24-years-old, tweeted ‘FEEDOM AT LAST!!!’ after a little more than 41 years in jail

John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Reagan, was initially granted an unconditional release and be free of court restrictions on June 15. Pictured: Hinckley Jr spotted out and about in Williamsburg, Virginia on June 7th

U.S. Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Virginia, August 8, 1981. Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was freed from court oversight Wednesday, June 15, 2022 officially concluding decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals

‘If Hinckley had succeeded in killing Reagan, then he would have been a pivotal historical figure,’ H.W. Brands, a historian and Reagan biographer, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. ‘As it is, he is a misguided soul whom history has already forgotten.’

Barbara A. Perry, a professor and director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, said that Hinckley …….

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10920807/John-Hinkley-Jr-freed-court-oversight-decades.html