John Hinckley Goes Free (!?!)

[FilmNerdJamie]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...142084-5015-11e6-a422-83ab49ed5e6a_story.html

One may be declared legally insane and thus off the hook from capital punishment. But the way I see it if you try to kill the leader of the free-world (regardless of one's own personal politics), you go away. Forever.

Not cool with this.

 

[Unbreakable Lex]

Agreed. Had the bullet been 6 inches to the left or right he would have assassinated a US President. There is only one penalty for that. He may not warrant capital punishment but life should certainly be the least he gets.

 

[JimThompson]

I'm torn. While I understand what the two of you are saying, 35 years is a long time. Additionally, it is not as though he is going to be completely out on his own, un-monitored. The president himself found it in his heart to forgive Mr. Hinkley, and I suspect he'd have been okay with this decision.

Tough one, though. As I said, I understand the other side of the argument, too.

 

[Slushy]

The order limits Hinckley to a 50-mile radius of Williamsburg, Va., requires him to turn over information about his mobile phone and vehicles he will be driving, and bars him from tampering with the browser history of his computer, uploading any content to the Internet, or accessing social media without unanimous approval of his treatment team. It does not order him to wear an ankle-monitoring device.

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[Kelly]

If I felt that secret service, local police, state law enforcement, FBI, etc...could actually keep this guy in their sight, I would be totally ok with this....unfortunately, each and every one of these law enforcement agencies have shown themselves to be ill equipped, lacking in ability to be interdependent with other law enforcement agencies and overall lacking in their ability to keep up with anything....makes me lean more toward the, "oh hell no....." end of the spectrum.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well I mean, what's he going to do? Run out and shoot Reagan?

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Not sure how I feel about this.

On one hand, he shot the ****ing President of the US, and if not for his bad aim and Jim Brady, he'd have killed him.

On the other hand, he's now in his 60's. He was 26 when he went to jail. He's not really a threat to much at this point and will be restricted to his mother's house for the next 18 months and under massive surveillance the whole time. If you believe one of the goals of incarceration is to rehabilitate criminals and make them functional again, then if he passes the psych tests, why shouldnt he be given some limited opportunity to live outside of prison? Although I'm not sure exactly what kind of life he's going to have? I'm sure he's heavily institutionalized at this point.

 

[Smashlilman]

Well I mean, what's he going to do? Run out and shoot Reagan?

The same delusions that made him target Reagan will probably cause him to target someone else if he stops his treatment. He might be watching TV and see a new actress he fancies and decide to go after another politician or person in general.

 

[SV Fan]

He is going to be real pissed when he gets out of jail and finds out that he did it all for a girl who is a lesbian

 

[Matt]

I have no beef with it. Firstly, he's been being let out periodically, for as long as 17 days at a time, for a very long time with no incident. Hinckley was a sick man. He had a disease. The disease has been treated. He shouldn't be punished for being sick. As Hulk said, part of the prison system is rehabilitation. Hinckley is the prime example of someone who has been rehabilitated. He was sick, it was treated, he is now ready to re-enter society. Why begrudge him that?

 

[Pink Ranger]

He is going to be real pissed when he gets out of jail and finds out that he did it all for a girl who is a lesbian

Either that, or the actors who played the rapists in The Accused are going to need police protection.

 

[Xrated48]

I'm suprised he didn't get life in prison sentence.

 

[Pink Ranger]

As a Broadway aficionado, I wonder if we can get him to play himself in a revival of Assassins. I smell a Tony!

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I'm suprised he didn't get life in prison sentence.

He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. After that, they changed the laws so that the standard for claiming insanity is much higher than when Hinckley was on trial.