Judge weighs giving Hinckley more freedom
Man who shot Reagan seeks longer unsupervised visits home
From Kevin Bohn
CNN
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A decision on whether the man who shot President Reagan will be allowed to leave his mental hospital on four-night unsupervised visits to his parents' home could come next week.
Lawyers for John Hinckley Jr. and the government presented closing arguments Monday over whether Hinckley, who tried to kill President Reagan in 1981, should be allowed more freedom. The judge said he would issue a ruling as soon as possible, probably sometime next week.
Hinckley is seeking four consecutive nights of unsupervised visits every two weeks at his parents' home in Williamsburg, Virginia.
In 1982, a jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity of attempting to assassinate Reagan and wounding a Secret Service agent and Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, outside of a hotel in Washington. He has been institutionalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington ever since.
Hinckley has been allowed to make several unsupervised day visits and two overnight visits to his parents' home in the past year.
"If this court applies the same standard to Mr. Hinckley" as it does to other acquitted persons, "then he is surely entitled" to be granted these visits, his attorney, Barry Levine, argued. "There is no evidence of current deception. There is no evidence of current dangerousness."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Chapman countered, saying "there is substantial risk of dangerousness" in the near future, and therefore Hinckley's request should be denied. He added there are concerns about Hinckley's honesty and openness.
Chapman pointed to Hinckley's relationship with ex-girlfriend Leslie DeVeau as the major area of concern, saying it is "disturbingly unclear." He pointed to Hinckley wearing a ring given to him by DeVeau, though Hinckley's lawyer played down the jewelry's significance.
The government contended the hospital could not be relied on to detect problems because it had not examined the relationship with DeVeau in enough detail.
Hinckley and DeVeau, who met when DeVeau also was a patient at the hospital, are still friends, talk daily and visit once a week. Their relationship and Hinckley's understanding of it were a significant focus of four days of federal court hearings last week in which experts contradicted each other on whether Hinckley has accepted it as only platonic.
A psychiatric expert for the government wrote in a report that he was worried about the relationship.
Hinckley's attorneys said last week that their client's mental illness is in remission, and that the unsupervised visits should be the next step in his treatment.
Noting that Hinckley had kept secret that he previously had stalked President Carter and actress Jodie Foster and had acquired a large amount of guns, Chapman said the judge should rule on what the patient needs, not what he wants.
"He plots, he plans, he works in secret," Chapman said.
The treatment team assigned to the Hinckley case at St. Elizabeth's interviewed DeVeau on Wednesday.
Testifying Friday, Hinckley's therapist, Sidney Binks, said she had told the team she had not seen any problems with Hinckley in several years. Binks said he believes Hinckley understands that there is no romantic element to his relationship with DeVeau.
"She has provided for him a window to the outside world, and it is an important link," Binks testified.
According to Binks, DeVeau could not remember whether she and Hinckley had talked about Reagan's death this year. Binks said she had told him Hinckley has talked a number of times about his sympathy for the families of the victims of his attack.
During the hearing Friday, the government introduced a nurse's report from June 12 saying DeVeau had given Hinckley a Washington Post newspaper that had stories and pictures both on the front page and inside a special section about the state funeral for Reagan held the day before.
Attorneys for Hinckley and the government disagreed on whether that newspaper had any significance because he was not prohibited from receiving such materials.
In response to Hinckley's request for expanded unsupervised visits, the hospital recommended he be allowed two overnight visits and then be evaluated by the hospital staff before being granting any more.
Last year, Judge Paul Friedman granted Hinckley limited visits not supervised by hospital staff. He was allowed six one-day visits and two overnight visits accompanied solely by his parents in the past year.
Lawyers and experts on both sides agree there were no problems during those visits. The judge had said Hinckley could not have contact with DeVeau during those visits.
Friedman told the court that what makes a decision "more difficult" this year is disagreement among the experts about whether the request is in Hinckley's best interest.
Friedman said time constraints make it unrealistic to expect a Thanksgiving visit, as Hinckley's family had requested, no matter how he rules.
