NBC reports that the medical examiner said Brady died as a result of his injuries in the shooting 33 years ago.
Apparently, this opens the door for a potential murder charge against John Hinkley, Jr…
We can only hope.
Maybe this will at least keep him off the streets, as in “No home visits for you!”
Oak, wouldn’t issue preclusion prevent Hinkley from being tried for Brady’s death? Brady and Reagan got shot in the same criminal episode and Hinkley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting Reagan. Lengthy post on Hinkley’s trial here.
And unless they changed it since 1987, doesn’t the year and a day rule apply in D.C? See, *U.S. v. Jackson*, 528 A.2d 1211, 1215 (D.C. Cir. 1987).
I didn’t even know he was gay.
You might want a mod to correct the title.
ETA: I see you already reported!
Jesus this country can be nuts. You’re going to try a mentally ill person who is already in prison again for a crime he committed 33 years ago?
Hinckley is not in prison, he’s in a psychiatric hospital. St. Elizabeths Hospital - Wikipedia He’s even been allowed home visits.
It’s the latter that bothers me. He’s an attempted assassin, a dangerous man. I just want to see him kept off the streets.
He’s not in prison, he’s in the loony bin. He’s had a few supervised visits with his parents but I think that permission was revoked. In any other case he’d be out on the streets by now, even if he had killed Brady at the time. But this guy tried to kill St. Ronnie and they’re never going to let him go free.
That case eliminated the year and a day rule.
I’m still thinking about your issue preclusion question…
Is he a dangerous man? If they found him not guilty because of insanity, than that means that what he did, he did because of a mental aberration, and if that’s the case, than it’s possible that he can be cured or treated so that he’s not dangerous.
Make him watch “Stargate”. He’ll wanna shoot EVERYBODY! 
(Actually that ending did make me throw a newspaper at the TV…)
This isn’t really accurate. Trying to assassinate a President has always been regarded as a serious crime and the people that have attempted it have received long sentences.
Lynette Fromme served 34 years in prison before being released on parole. Sara Jane Moore served 32 years in prison before being released on parole. Oscar Collazo served 29 years in prison before his sentence was commuted.
The big exception was Richard Pavlick who plotted to assassinate Kennedy in 1960. He postponed his attempt and was arrested before he could try again. He was found mentally incompetent and no criminal charges were filed against him. He was released from confinement in 1966.
But overall, Hinckley’s sentence has been in line with what part attempted assassins received.
I agree, I didn’t mean to sound like he would be out if he had attempted to kill any other president.
The person he’s a biggest danger to would be Jodie Foster, I would imagine. (I heard that the revoked the visits home when they found some magazine articles about her he was hiding under his bed. Sorry, no cite at the moment)
Even more scary…
If he’s still obsessed with Foster, it’s Obama who should be worried.
Thanks Locrian. Dude sounds very…um, charming.
Umm, what’s scary about the prosecutors throwing out bullshit? Seriously, I don’t get it. He’s spent longer in custody as a crazy person than he would have as a felon convicted of attempting to assassinate a President.
I see no reason to think that Hinckley’s doctors are wrong. He’s had leaves out of the hospital for years, and has attacked neither Jodie Foster nor a President.
Re the OP, a prosecutorial judgement that Hinckley should be tried for murdering Brady is nothing but bullshit.
If he was tried for trying to kill Reagan but was acquitted due to insanity, and if furthermore he shot Brady at the same time, doesn’t that create a strong case that he was insane when he shot Brady too? If he is tried now for killing Brady, what outcome could there be, but acquit him again due to insanity? And then what would they do about it? Commit him retroactively to the loony bin where he’s already been all these years?
What’s wrong with it is he’s out of the hospital 120 days a year and has a driver’s license, for starters. A GPS enable smartphone is his only guard?? Not allowed to speak to media but puts a song about himself out there… No he didn’t attack Jodi or a president, but I’m more worried about the guy next door or a crush he gets on the bag lady at the local grocer. And he DID study books on assassinations before he tried to impress Ms. Foster.
I really don’t think much of psychiatrists in general. Especially the ones who get these kind of “celebrity” loons.
None of this makes a bit of sense. None of it.
When was the song published, and what precisely makes that song a threat? What threat does he offer to the guy next door, or to the grocery worker? He studied books on assassinations over thirty years ago? Before he committed the crime he was “convicted” of?
Why do you distrust psychiatrists?