On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in an effort to impress the actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley wounded a police officer, a Secret Service agent, and critically wounded press secretary James Brady, leaving Brady paralyzed on the left side of his body. Brady died on August 4, 2014. A District of Columbia medical examiner has ruled Brady’s death a homicide, as he died of the result of the injuires he suffered when shot in the head by Hinckley.
In 1981, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity (the verdict led to the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984). Since then Hinckley has been under institutional psychiatric care although with “progressively longer visits to the home of his parents” in Williamsburg, Virginia. Hinckley, now 58-years -old, is allowed to spend 17 days a month visiting his mother.
