U.S. Judge Denies Hinckley’s Plea for More Freedom

A federal judge today rejected a request by John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Reagan five years ago, that he be allowed to leave the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital unaccompanied and visit downtown Washington once a month.

U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker also refused to order the mental hospital to move Hinckley from a maximum security ward where he has been confined for the last 21 months to a less restrictive ward.

Parker’s rulings came after Dr. Joan Turkus, Hinckley’s psychiatrist since 1982, testified that Hinckley’s mental condition has improved but that he still has “a mental illness, mental disorders, mental problems.”

Hinckley read a statement to the judge in which he said: “My doctors no longer believe that I’m a threat to society. In the last three years, I have not been psychotic, delusionary or depressed. So where is the sickness? I’m asking for more privileges, not my unconditional release.”