# James Brady's Death Ruled Homicide **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127 "2014-08-08T22:19:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/1 "2014-08-08T22:19:54Z")
[NBC reports](http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Jim-Brady-Death-Was-a-Homicide-DC-Medical-Examiner-Rules-270522411.html) 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… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/2 "2014-08-08T22:24:25Z")
We can only hope. Maybe this will at least keep him off the streets, as in “_ **No home visits for you!** _” ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/3 "2014-08-08T22:55:06Z")
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](http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html). 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)](http://law.justia.com/cases/district-of-columbia/court-of-appeals/1987/85-59-4.html). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/4 "2014-08-08T22:57:19Z")
I didn’t even know he was gay. You might want a mod to correct the title. ETA: I see you already reported! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/5 "2014-08-08T23:06:05Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/6 "2014-08-08T23:45:13Z")
Hinckley is not in prison, he’s in a psychiatric hospital. [St. Elizabeths Hospital - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elizabeths_Hospital) 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. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/7 "2014-08-08T23:48:01Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/8 "2014-08-09T01:19:50Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > 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)](http://law.justia.com/cases/district-of-columbia/court-of-appeals/1987/85-59-4.html). That case eliminated the year and a day rule. I’m still thinking about your issue preclusion question… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/9 "2014-08-09T01:35:17Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/10 "2014-08-09T02:36:35Z")
Make him watch “Stargate”. He’ll wanna shoot EVERYBODY! 😃 (Actually that ending did make me throw a newspaper at the TV…) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/11 "2014-08-09T02:37:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/12 "2014-08-09T02:49:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > 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. > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/13 "2014-08-09T02:52:58Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/14 "2014-08-09T03:17:45Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > 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) [Right here, Guin!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr.#Treatment_at_St._Elizabeths_Hospital) > [@](#): > > He was allowed to leave the hospital for supervised visits with his parents in 1999, and he was then granted longer unsupervised releases in 2000.[4] **These privileges were revoked when he was found to have smuggled materials about Foster back into the hospital.** Hinckley was later allowed supervised visits during 2004 and 2005. Court hearings were held in September 2005 on whether he could have expanded privileges to leave the hospital. Even more scary… > [@](#): > > On June 17, 2009, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley would be given the ability to visit his mother for a dozen visits of 10 days at a time, rather than six, spend more time outside of the hospital, and have a driver’s license. The court also ordered that Hinckley be required to carry a GPS-enabled cell phone to track him whenever he was outside of his parents’ home, and he was forbidden to speak to the news media.[20] This was done over the objections of the prosecutors, who said that he was still a danger to others and had unhealthful and inappropriate thoughts about women. Hinckley recorded a song, “Ballad of an Outlaw”, which the prosecutors claim is “reflecting suicide and lawlessness”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/15 "2014-08-09T03:17:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The person he’s a biggest danger to would be Jodie Foster, I would imagine. If he’s still obsessed with Foster, it’s Obama who should be worried. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/16 "2014-08-09T03:52:20Z")
Thanks **Locrian**. Dude sounds very…um, charming. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/17 "2014-08-09T04:09:16Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Even more scary… 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. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/18 "2014-08-09T04:22:19Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/19 "2014-08-09T05:00:27Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127/20 "2014-08-09T05:21:11Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > 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? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-bradys-death-ruled-homicide/695127.md?page=2)