John Hinckley Jr. pictured in 2003 arriving at US District Court in Washington
(Picture: AP)The man who shot then-US president Ronald Reagan has been released without conditions in compliance with a federal judge’s order on Wednesday.
John Hinckley was 25 when he wounded the former president and three others in a 1981 assassination attempt outside a Washington hotel. Reagan quickly recovered after the attack but his press secretary Jim Brady was left with permanent disabilities.
A jury had found him not guilty by reason of insanity in his 1982 trial which prompted Congress and some states to pass laws restricting the use of insanity as a defence.
Now the 67-year-old has celebrated his new-found freedom on Twitter after the official end of decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals.
After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!
— John Hinckley (@JohnHinckley20) June 15, 2022
“After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!” He wrote on Twitter.
The lifting of all restrictions had been expected since late September when US District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington had said he would free Hinckley on June 15 if he continued to remain “mentally stable”.
“This is the time to let John Hinckley move on with his life, so we will,” the judge said.
Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis opposed Hinckley’s release.
Hinckley’s debut concert at the Market Hotel in New York City this month was cancelled on Wednesday after the venue said it had received violent threats.
In 2016, Hinckley received full-time conditional release and lived with his mother in Virginia until her death last year after he spent 30 years in a psychiatric hospital in Washington.
During that time, he had limited his travel and internet use.
The 1981 assassination attempt spurred modern efforts to tighten gun laws.
Mr Brady and his wife Sarah formed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
