- I'm craig melvin,
And this is "dateline: Secrets uncovered".
- I hear this pop, pop, pop.
- It was one of the most harrowing days
In our history.
The attempted assassination of president reagan.
- The screaming, yelling, it's chaos.
- Now, an unprecedented look into the mind and new life
Of the gunman, john hinckley jr.,
With the stories you haven't heard.
The cop who questioned hinckley speaks out
In his first nationally televised interview.
- I just didn't think that he realized the magnitude
Of what he had done.
- From behind the hospital walls.
- He turned to her and said, "will you marry me?"
- Secrets from his diaries uncovered by "dateline".
His obsession with actress jodie foster.
- The letters were assumed to have been, you know,
Love type letters.
- And the most controversial question of all:
Is hinckley really fit to be free?
- He's a potentially dangerous character.
He's proven that.
♪♪
- Hello and welcome to "dateline: Secrets uncovered".
John hinckley jr. Would go down in infamy
For attempting to assassinate president ronald reagan.
And since the day he pulled that trigger,
Hinckley has remained an enigma.
Now we are about to reveal an extraordinary trove
Of his most private thoughts and feelings.
Here's special contributor, troy roberts, with hinckley:
"diary of a dangerous mind."
- Charming, small town williamsburg, virginia.
People visit from all over the world for a taste
Of america's colonial history.
This man came for something more.
A new life, one that would be quiet and normal.
- He volunteers at a church, he plays a lot of music,
Goes on walks.
- But his journey to get here was a long one
Filled with violence,
Mental illness, and confinement.
- This is a violently insane person,
So you need to put him somewhere where he can't harm anybody.
- No one would guess it now, but this senior citizen
Casually walking around town is an infamous figure,
A man who once tried to kill
The president of the united states
Over a movie star.
John hinckley jr.
Today, after being institutionalized
For more than three decades, he is pretty much a free man.
It was a rainy spring Monday in washington, d.C.,
Just a few months after ronald reagan
Was elected present.
- March 30th, 1981 is seventy days
Into reagan's first term, and it's a nothing day.
He's giving a speech at the washington hilton.
- A nothing day that was about to turn into a day
No one would ever forget.
"los angeles times" reporter del wilber
Interviewed well over 100 people for his book,
"rawhide down".
Rawhide, the secret service codename for president reagan.
- We're going to convince this city that the power
Begins and ends with the people.
- He gives a speech.
He's walking out, it's 2:27 p.M.
- I was part of the press pool, which is the small group
Of reporters who follow along in the motorcade.
- "pbs newshour" anchor and managing editor
Judy woodruff was the white house correspondent
For nbc news.
- He came out the door and was waving.
I remember he raised his arm to wave to people there.
- Fifteen feet away was a rope line,
Which separated a small crowd of reporters
And bystanders from the president.
In that crowd, a sandy blond haired 25-year-old
Named john hinckley jr.
Moments later...
- It sounded like firecrackers.
You knew in a-in an instant it couldn't be firecrackers.
You then assumed it was a gun.
- And he unleashes six shots in 1.7 seconds.
- Everybody yelled, "get down! Get down!"
And all I saw was a jumble of people shoving the president,
And I couldn't tell who else, into a car.
- Hinckley seemed to shoot recklessly,
Almost randomly, in reagan's direction.
All three networks had camera crews at the event,
Which later allowed reporters
To break down every horrifying moment.
- First shot hits jim brady in the head.
He falls to the ground.
He's the presidential press secretary.
The second shot hits tom delahanty,
A d.C. Police officer in the back,
He falls to the ground.
The fourth shot hits tim mccarthy,
Secret service agent who turned and took a shot in the chest
Without a bulletproof vest.
- Oh, my god!
- I remember yelling and the chaos.
I said, "was the president hit?"
And they said, "I don't think so".
- Did you see john hinckley outside of the hotel?
- I saw police on top of a man, had wrestled him to the ground,
And I couldn't really see anything.
- We looked at footage from that day with del wilber.
- That's a secret service agent with an uzi.
- Get out of the way!
- And that's hinckley.
So they're hustling him over to this car.
- President reagan's son, ron, was in lincoln, nebraska,
When he was told about the shooting.
- I see across the room a secret service man
Coming towards me.
And he very quietly told my wife and I that that,
Uh, that shots had been fired.
They didn't think he was hit.
- We now have an announcement from the white house.
Definitely the president was not hit.
- But inside the presidential limo,
A different story was playing out.
- Reagan's increasingly complaining of pain
In his chest, back, and inside, right here, it really hurts.
And he pulls a napkin out of his right coat pocket
That he had taken from the hilton, paper napkin,
Dabs his lips, looks at it,
And there's bright, frothy blood.
- President reagan had been shot and his life was in danger.
Wilbur explained exactly how he was wounded.
- So we're watching a slow motion replay
Of the shooting.
And right around here, boom.
Look how close he is.
Look at the gun.
And the way to reagan's clear.
And right here, the bullet hits right there
And gets through that little gap.
- Through the tiny gap created by the open door
Of the bulletproof car, hitting the president.
An incredible fluke.
It was hinckley's sixth and final shot.
Secret service agents raced him
To george washington university hospital,
Where doctors found the bullet dangerously close
To president reagan's heart.
- Judy, I'm sorry to interrupt...
- Nbc cut into woodruff's report with the news.
- ...In front of me now are two bulletins,
That both say president reagan was shot in the chest.
- The president was rushed into surgery.
Meanwhile, the fbi was desperately trying
To find out what happened.
Retired fbi agent, thomas baker.
- We didn't know, was this part of a conspiracy?
Were they're gonna be other people shot?
- The answers would be much stranger
And more chilling than they could possibly imagine.
And it turned out, the clues were hiding
In plain sight.
- A stunned nation wonders who wanted president reagan dead,
And why?
- Coming up,
The first nationally televised interview
With a detective who questioned hinckley
Minutes after the attack.
- He just seemed matter of factly like
This wasn't really a big deal.
- Did he ask any questions about the condition
Of the president or mr. Brady?
- No, he never did. He never seemed concerned.
- No remorse? - No remorse at all.
- When "dateline: Secrets uncovered" continues.
- The news was everywhere.
President ronald reagan had been shot in washington, d.C.
- Still is absolute confusion and a terrible sinking feeling
That america has lived through so many times in the past.
- President reagan and the three men shot near him
Were all taken to nearby hospitals,
Some with life threatening injuries.
Brady had a catastrophic brain injury.
Mccarthy, shot in the liver.
Delahanty, a bullet lodged near his spine.
And the president with one lodged only an inch
From his heart.
- How close did he come to dying?
- Reagan came within a couple of minutes of dying.
- Meanwhile, the man who shot them was in the custody
Of the washington, d.C. Police.
Retired homicide detective eddie myers was the first person
To question hinckley.
More than thirty-eight years since that day,
This was his first national television interview.
- He looked like a college student.
He just didn't seem to fit the profile of what I thought
A presidential assassin would be like.
- What was john hinckley's demeanor
When you were about to begin your interview?
- He just seemed matter of factly like
This wasn't really a big deal.
- Myers said hinckley told him his name,
His parents address, and the room number
At the hotel where he had been staying.
He also assured the detective he acted alone.
- Did you ask him that question directly?
- Yes, I did.
Something to the effect of, are you by yourself?
And he responded, "I'm with no one".
- Did he ask any questions about the condition
Of the president or mr. Brady?
- No, he never did.
He never seemed concerned.
- No remorse? - No remorse at all.
- Desperate for any clue or evidence that could explain
The motive for the shooting, myers searched hinckley's wallet
And found photos.
- I noticed three or four of them from magazines,
I think they were. But--
- Did you ask him who this person was?
- Yeah. - And what did he say?
- He says, "you'll find out when you get to read
"the letter in my room".
- At that point, myers said hinckley shut down
And refused to say more.
What struck him most was that hinckley seemed arrogant,
Almost smug.
- I said, "you're gonna be charged with attempted assassination
"of the president of the united states".
And as I'm writing this in my notes,
I'm having a hard time spelling "assassination".
And he says, "I'll spell it for you".
- Soon after, hinckley was turned over to the fbi.
And by evening, word of hinckley's arrest was public.
- The man who fired the shots today has been identified
As john warnock hinckley of evergreen, colorado.
- I'm thinking to myself, that is so weird that the guy
Who shot the president has the same name
As my friend john hinckley.
- As kids, evan price, kurt dooley, and will francis
Were friends with hinckley growing up
In the same wealthy texas suburb.
They didn't believe the shooter was their john
Until they heard where he went to school.
- I was in disbelief.
I thought to myself, I know this guy.
Friendly person, good natured person.
This can't be happening.
- It was hard for all of them to square the would-be assassin
With the friend they had known for more than a decade.
- Yeah, look how happy he looks.
- He is handsome and happy and looks great.
- Here's john.
- They met hinckley in the sixties
And bonded over sports and music.
- He was a very well-liked guy.
We would go to record shops, music stores,
Places to have a burger.
- At home, john hinckley was the youngest of three.
His father, jack, the owner of an oil and gas business.
His friends say the family seemed perfect.
Straight out of the tv classic "leave it to beaver".
- I would spend the night over there,
And it was a great family.
And she was just June cleaver.
You would-- and his dad was more like ward.
- So what changed for the kid who grew up with everything?
Back in washington,
The fbi was wondering the same thing.
That night, agents were at the park central hotel
Where hinckley had been staying.
- We executed a search warrant of his hotel room.
- Thomas baker was the agent in charge
And oversaw the search.
- There on the desk, we found the letter,
The statement of why he was doing this.
- The letter revealed that hinckley didn't try
To kill the president for political reasons.
He did it because of a dark and twisted obsession
With a woman.
- Hinckley's bombshell motive
Thrusts a young hollywood actress into the spotlight
And shakes the first family to its core.
- Coming up, raw pain for the reagan family.
- Somebody shoots your father and you're a 22-year-old guy.
Your, you know, your first thought is,
Let me get my hands on this-this son of a bitch.
- And hinckley's fixation on actress jodie foster.
- The letters were assumed to have been, you know,
Love type letters.
- When "dateline: Secrets uncovered" continues.
- As night fell over the capital,
The nation could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
- President reagan tonight is reported in stable
And good condition.
Mccarthy, brady, and delahanty also survived surgery,
Some miraculously.
- Brady's surgery was very delicate
And very complicated.
And it took the doctor all day to stop the bleeding
And hemorrhaging and get the-the bullet fragments
Out of brady's brain.
- The public still had no idea why john hinckley
Tried to kill president reagan.
Even the president's family hadn't been told anything.
His son, ron, struggled with his anger.
- Somebody shoots your father and you're a 22-year-old guy.
Your, you know, your first thought is,
Let me get my hands on this-this son of a bitch.
- Were you thinking what would drive john hinckley
To wanna kill my father?
- Well, you figure it's either some sort of political motive,
Or he's just crazy.
- But fbi agents who had found that letter
In hinckley's hotel room were learning his motives
Weren't at all political.
Hinckley was fueled by an obsession
With actress jodie foster.
The letter was written to her.
- "dear jodie, there is a definite possibility
"that I will be killed in my attempt to get reagan.
"it is for this very reason
"that I am writing you this letter now."
- Retired fbi agent thomas baker.
- He explained he was doing this great act of love
To impress her and win her heart.
- "I've got to do something now to make you understand,
"in no uncertain terms,
"that I am doing all of this for your sake."
- The fbi needed to talk to foster.
When agents arrived at yale university,
Where she was a student, the actress was visibly upset.
She told them that hinckley started writing her
Soon after she arrived on campus the previous fall
And hadn't stopped.
- Was he threatening? What was he like?
- I'm not allowed to say.
- Foster held a press conference
A few days later.
- The letters were assumed to have been,
You know, love type letters.
- Have you ever seen hinckley, that you know of?
- No, I've never-- not to my knowledge.
I've never met him.
- The fbi learned hinckley had told his parents
He was attending a yale writers' program,
But that was a lie.
- He wasn't in any writers' program.
He was there living in a hotel and stalking jodie foster
And was slipping notes under her door,
Love notes.
- This note was left for her
Just weeks before the shooting.
- "jodie, goodbye.
"I love you six trillion times.
"don't you maybe like me just a little bit?
"you must admit I am different.
"it would make all of this worthwhile."
- When did his obsession with jodie foster begin?
- 1976. He was in l.A.
Trying to be a songwriter, failing at it,
And he saw the movie "taxi driver".
He saw it more than a dozen times.
Remember, she plays, like, a prostitute,
Like an adolescent prostitute in the movie.
And he became obsessed with her.
- Robert de niro played the main character,
Travis bickle,
A socially awkward taxi driver
Who plans to kill a presidential candidate.
- He completely identified with bickle.
He thought that he was gonna shoot reagan
And die in a hail of secret service bullets,
Just as bickle thought he would.
- But investigators quickly discovered
Hinckley considered other options first,
Like hijacking a plane and even killing the woman
He claimed to love.
- His plan was to kill jodie foster,
Shoot her, shoot himself,
Or kill himself in front of her.
- Hinckley's lawyers thought all of this
Could be the basis of an insanity defense.
- Dr. Carpenter was excused...
- And they hired psychiatrist william carpenter
In the hopes he'd provide testimony
That would convince a jury.
Carpenter met with hinckley for months
And charted his unraveling.
- What was his relationship like with his parents?
- There wasn't anything that seemed like
Childhood neglect or trauma.
- But carpenter learned
Hinckley started to withdraw from friends in high school,
And then completely isolated himself in college.
His parents were worried
And took him to see a psychiatrist
Who told them hinckley was simply immature
And needed tough love.
- More than once, they'd kind of cut him off.
- The strategy backfired.
Hinckley's hopelessness showed in his poems,
Songs, and journals.
- They're kind of dark, anticipatory things in it.
And it is certainly compatible
With an unhappy and lonely life.
- In hinckley's poem, "guns are fun!",
The foreshadowing of the shooting is clear.
- "if I wish, the president will fall
"and the world will look at me in disbelief."
- By the end of his evaluation,
Carpenter concluded hinckley was legally insane.
- His official diagnosis?
- In the diagnostic codes that we use,
The most suitable one would be schizophrenia.
- But could the defense convince a jury?
The prosecution had their own experts
And planned to argue hinckley was perfectly sane.
- He was legally sane
Because he knew it was wrong,
Because he knew he was shooting at humans
In a way that could harm them.
- The trial would be a seven week battle
Of the experts
Over whether hinckley was sane or not.
Potential answers to that question
Were buried in a remarkable diary that hinckley wrote
And that "dateline" uncovered.
- We recovered news footage of carter
At different rallies in the fall
During the election
Where hinckley's in the crowd.
- Evidence that ronald reagan
Wasn't hinckley's only target.
- John hinckley had plans to kill
President jimmy carter? - Yes.
- When "dateline: Secrets uncovered" continues.
♪♪
- Welcome back to "dateline: Secrets uncovered".
I'm craig melvin.
Was john hinckley jr. Legally insane
When he shot president reagan?
A jury would have to answer that question,
But we now have insight those jurors did not.
An astonishing document
Written in hinckley's own hand
That is finally seeing the light of day.
Back to troy roberts with:
"hinckley: Diary of a dangerous mind".
- On the night he was arrested,
Hours after trying to kill the president,
John hinckley began to keep a diary.
- "March 30th, 1981,
"rushed to dc police headquarters,
"spent three hours handcuffed to desk."
- He would continue writing in it for fourteen months,
Up to and through his trial.
Uncovered by "dateline",
The diary is a remarkable insight
Into hinckley's troubled mind.
- "I have such an empty, sad feeling.
"where are you, jodie?"
- Hinckley titled it:
"the diary of a person we all know".
At times it's a chronicle of despair.
- "why go on? I'm immortally infamous.
"equal to john wilkes booth.
"but I've had enough."
- Days after that entry,
Hinckley tried to take his own life,
His second attempt. After he recovered,
He seemed to have a moment of clarity
About the shooting.
- "there are many times when I thoroughly regret
"the incident, and then many times
"when I think about what I have accomplished
"and feel satisfied."
- But by the spring of 1982, hinckley seemed ready,
Almost giddy, for the nation to hear his story.
- "everyone is excited now. I'm a little excited.
"let's get it on.
"it will be a miracle and nothing short of a miracle
"if I'm found not guilty."
- A year had passed since the shooting,
But the damage hinckley caused
Was still fresh in people's minds.
- He could have changed the course of history.
- Absolutely.
This foolish, unstable young man
Could have changed the course of history.
- President reagan and secret service agent mccarthy
Took weeks to fully recover from their injuries,
While officer delahanty suffered permanent
Nerve damage that forced him to retire early.
But it was james brady who suffered the most.
His brain injuries caused permanent paralysis
And severe challenges
For the remainder of his life.
As testimony began, both sides knew the defense
Had the advantage.
The law stated they didn't have to prove a thing.
Nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos.
- At the time of the hinckley trial,
The prosecution had the burden
To prove each and every element of the crime,
Including the defendant's sanity.
- The prosecution began by showing jurors
Footage of the shooting.
They argued hinckley was not mentally ill
When he pulled the trigger.
Just a sad, narcissistic loner
Fixated on achieving worldwide fame.
Lead psychiatrist dr. Park dietz.
- He told me that his goal was to be on the cover
Of "time" magazine.
- And hinckley's fixation on the film "taxi driver"?
Prosecutors argued it didn't mean he was insane.
The movie's plot was merely inspirational.
- He was already interested
In committing some high-profile crime.
He fell upon "taxi driver",
And he did try to imitate aspects of it.
- And his diary revealed hinckley thought the trial
Was the perfect stage for his story.
- "jodie, jodie,
"everyone in the whole wide world
"knows about us.
"I think what I did was worth it."
- In the courtroom, prosecutors argued
Hinckley knew exactly what he was doing
When he shot the president,
That it was a premeditated plan
Months in the making.
And originally with a different target.
- He actually had been stalking
The previous president, jimmy carter.
- In the fall of 1980, hinckley bought guns,
Went target shooting, and followed carter
On the campaign trail.
- We recovered news footage of carter at different rallies
In the fall during the election
Where hinckley is in the crowd.
- John hinckley had plans to kill
President jimmy carter? - Yes.
And it just never worked out for him,
So then he switched his attention
To president reagan after he became president.
- When it was the defense team's turn,
They told jurors hinckley did not understand
These violent actions were wrong
Because his judgment was impaired
By schizophrenic delusions.
- The only meaningful thing in his life
Is his delusional attachment with jodie foster.
- Dr. Carpenter testified hinckley created
An entire fantasy world
Where that attachment could exist.
- He developed this grandiose view
Of jodie and him as a couple.
He thought this is something
That everybody should know about,
Killing carter, killing reagan.
He needed something that would call attention to this.
- And his attempts to connect with foster
Were his way of trying to convince her
They were meant to be.
The defense had jurors listen to a phone call
Hinckley recorded between himself and the actress.
- Jodie foster did not appear at trial,
But her testimony was videotaped weeks earlier.
Hinckley was present for it and for the first time
Came face to face with the object of his obsession.
Only a transcript was released to the media.
- Her words infuriated him.
In his diary that night,
He wrote that he threw a pen at her
And shouted, "jodie, I'm still gonna kill you".
He went on to write...
- "oh my god, what have I done?
"I'm insane, aren't I?
"I went too far this morning.
"everyone is angry with me.
"jodie hates me.
"oh, I'm so famous, but I'm so damn miserable."
- Would the jury find hinckley
A calculating would-be killer?
Or a mad man who couldn't tell right from wrong?
- Why didn't you render the decision...
- Their verdict would leave the nation outraged.
- You were confident the jurors
Were gonna see things your way?
- Yes. I didn't for a moment think it could be otherwise.
- The jury speaks.
- To say america was shocked by the hinckley verdict
Is an understatement.
- And then, hinckley makes a connection
With a serial killer.
- When "dateline: Secrets uncovered" continues.
♪♪
- The jury in the john hinckley jr. Case
Was sequestered,
Deliberating for days with no sign of a verdict.
Despite the wait,
The prosecution's lead psychiatrist wasn't worried.
- You were confident
The jurors were gonna see things your way?
- Yes. I didn't for a moment think it could be otherwise.
- By the fourth day, the verdict was in.
- The verdict on john hinckley,
Not guilty by reason of insanity,
Turned the country upside down today,
Unleashing anger, outrage, disbelief,
But very little praise.
- I was shocked.
We could not wrap our heads around
How a jury could get it so wrong.
- To say america was shocked by the hinckley verdict
Is an understatement. They were furious!
- I think the outcome so far was outrageous.
- But not everyone was up in arms.
Surprisingly, president reagan
Had found peace with hinckley.
- My father had forgiven him already, long before.
Within a day or so of being shot,
He had forgiven.
- Within a day or so? - Yes.
- My mother, on the other hand,
She'd have killed him if she could have
Gotten her hands on him.
But my father had forgiven him already.
He just said that he knew he had to.
Hinckley celebrated the verdict
In the final entry of his diary.
- "no one can believe it.
"it's all over.
"I'm not responsible for shooting the president
"and three others.
"what must jodie foster be thinking right now?
- But the verdict didn't mean hinckley
Was completely off the hook.
- You're going to a treatment facility.
And only when you are better will you be released.
- Hinckley was sent to saint elizabeth's hospital
In washington, d.C.,
One of the oldest psychiatric institutions
In the country,
And put on an intense regimen of counseling and medication,
Including antipsychotic drugs.
Over time, he seemed to change.
And part of the reason for that was a woman.
- John and leslie met at a Halloween party.
Leslie devoe was her name,
And she was a fellow patient at saint elizabeth's.
Writer elsa walsh interviewed devoe
Years later for "the new yorker" magazine
About her romantic relationship with hinckley.
- Leslie devoe was described by neighbors
And families and friends, even her ex-husband,
As a wonderful, perfect mother.
And she had killed her child.
- Devoe was also found not guilty
By reason of insanity for her horrifying crime,
And sent to the psychiatric hospital.
Today, the old grounds are closed.
Buildings abandoned.
- What was it like when you came here the first time?
- You know, it was clearly very different from it is now.
You didn't have a lot of broken windows.
But leslie and john used to communicate from a window,
Not this building, but a very similar one,
Three floors up where he was.
- Devoe was more than a decade older than hinckley,
And like him, came from an upper middle class background
And was educated.
When they met, devoe didn't know who hinckley was.
And when he told her, she didn't care.
- She said to me, "what I did was so much worse
"than what john did.
I killed my child."
- They found young erin dead in an upstairs bedroom
Of the family home.
- One morning, devoe had taken her husband's shotgun,
Shot and killed her 10-year-old daughter, erin,
As she slept, then shot herself.
Devoe's injuries were so severe,
Doctors had to amputate her left arm.
She told walsh she never understood people's shock
Over her love for hinckley.
- So when people sort of wonder, like,
Why would I have a relationship with him?
You know, why would he have a relationship with me?
- In the beginning, they left secret notes
For each other in the cafeteria,
Talked at chaperone events or by the window.
But by the following year, hinckley was in love
And did something no one ever expected, he proposed.
And devoe accepted.
Walsh says they became each other's confidants,
Hinckley trusting her with his darkest moments.
- And she said he went through this terrible period
Of feeling enormous shame and guilt.
- How's it going, mr. Brady? Doing well today?
- Particularly when he would see brady,
The press secretary he had shot.
- After three years of treatment,
Devoe was released from saint elizabeth's,
But got a job at the hospital
So hinckley still saw her regularly.
- The staff at the mental hospital
Condoned this relationship, even supported it?
- Initially yes, they did,
Because they saw it as a healthy growth.
- But the staff learned hinckley was also in
An astonishing relationship with someone else.
A relationship that raised serious questions
About his progress.
It was the notorious serial killer and rapist,
Ted bundy, who was on death row in florida.
Bundy sent this letter to hinckley.
- Dear john, I think we've got something going here, john.
It's always a pleasure to find someone
I feel comfortable writing.
- The secret service discovered
Hinckley started the correspondence,
And the two men had been writing each other for months.
Hinckley wrote this one to bundy.
- Dear ted, I read about your new death order.
It really upsets me,
Because I'm against the death penalty
And I value you as a friend.
- Hinckley wrote a letter...
- Doctors became more concerned after learning
Hinckley still seemed to be obsessed with jodie foster
And had some 20 photos of her in his room.
He'd also considered writing
To convicted killer charles manson
And did receive a letter from manson disciple
Lynette "squeaky" fromme,
Who tried to assassinate president gerald ford in 1975.
Despite the letters, after four years,
The hospital trusted hinckley enough
To let him leave his building
And roam the grounds freely.
He and devoe were still engaged,
And could walk outside together and have privacy.
- She said they went up to this little spot on a hill.
They didn't have sex the first time there,
But said soon after that they did.
And she said-- - on the ground?
- On the ground.
- Just a few years later, hinckley went to court
To make a bid for more freedom.
But would a judge allow a man who stalked two presidents
And tried to kill one of them,
Back into society?
- He shouldn't be allowed to just roam around
All on his lonesome out there.
He's a potentially dangerous character.
He's proven that.
- The eye popping gated community
Where hinckley proposed to live.
- Who's played on that tee is people like
President barack obama, former president clinton,
And this fellow's only 50 feet away.
- When "dateline: Secrets uncovered" continues.
♪♪
- In 1997, john hinckley jr. Was back in court,
This time fighting for a bit of freedom.
He spent 15 years at a psychiatric hospital
And believed he was a changed man.
His parents believed it, too.
- John's whole demeanor has changed,
And he's a more open, um, loving person.
- To them, hinckley was no criminal.
He was being treated for mental illness
And deserved compassion.
- He wasn't a sniper on a rooftop
Or a religious fanatic.
He was just a pathetic figure
Trying to impress a movie star he never met.
- After so many years of treatment,
He wanted permission to visit his family
Off hospital grounds.
Hinckley's doctors told the court
His psychosis and depression were in remission
And had been for years.
- I think what they observed is that he was less preoccupied
With the psychotic delusions.
- But federal prosecutors didn't buy it.
They believed hinckley was still a threat to society
And had evidence to prove it.
A hospital pharmacist complained
That hinckley was stalking her.
- He would go over to her office
And they'd chat and talk.
And then he started bugging her.
He'd come every day or he'd call.
- The judge denied hinckley's request,
And he lost any chance of leaving the hospital grounds
For a long time.
But by 2003, he had stayed out of trouble for years,
And his doctors felt he was ready
To inch back into society.
- They began gradually, just one day out in the city.
- By 2006, hinckley's treatment team
Had recommended he be allowed to stay with his parents
For days at a time, and the court agreed.
- The goal of saint elizabeth's hospital
Is to rehabilitate, right?
So they have no justification of really holding him.
- But not everyone was happy
About hinckley's increasing freedom.
The house his parents had retired to
Was in an upscale gated community
In williamsburg, virginia, overlooking the 13th hole
Of the kingsmill championship golf course.
When we sat down with retired fbi agent thomas baker,
He told us that concerned the secret service.
- In the past few years, who's played on that tee
Is people like president barack obama,
Former president clinton.
I mean, these are the people who play golf in williamsburg,
And this fellow's only 50 feet away.
- Despite federal prosecutors' continued protests,
The judge followed
Saint elizabeth's recommendations,
And granted hinckley more and more time
With his parents.
Time that no longer included
His fiancée, leslie devoe.
After 22 years, the relationship was over.
- Do you know why the relationship ended?
- Being identified publicly as his girlfriend
Was very hard for her.
The secret service was always coming to her door.
It became just too much.
- Hinckley's focus was now solely on being
Permanently released from saint elizabeth's,
And in 2016, a judge granted his request.
- The man who attempted to assassinate
President ronald reagan
Is now free from a mental hospital after decades.
- Hinckley's father had died, so he would live with
His 90-year-old mother, at least for a year.
Not all of hinckley's new neighbors
Were convinced that was a good idea.
- Bring him here and put him in--
Under the care of his 90-year-old mother.
Seems to me to be a pretty foolish decision.
- Timothy mccarthy, the secret service agent
Who took a bullet shielding president reagan,
Was also skeptical.
- We know medicine is not an exact science.
Uh, few things are.
So, you know, I just hope they're right.
- I'm a layperson, I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist,
But it doesn't seem to me like
People with these kind of severe, uh, mental problems
Are ever really, truly cured.
- Still, hinckley wasn't completely free.
The secret service would keep an eye on him.
And there was a long list of court-mandated rules
He had to follow.
Among them, therapy, medication, limited travel,
No media interviews or contact
With his victims' relatives or jodie foster.
But ron reagan was still concerned.
- My worry is that
His narcissistic personality disorder
Will be affronted by somebody,
He will not get the respect or attention
That he feels that he's owed,
And he will act out again in some violent way.
- Today, there is greater awareness and empathy
For those who suffer from mental illness.
But insanity defense laws have become much stricter.
- States were in a rush to change
Their insanity defenses after the hinckley trial.
Some got rid of the defense altogether.
Some states instituted guilty, but mentally ill.
- In federal court, the burden of proof
Now has shifted to the defense team
Who must prove the defendant is insane.
If hinckley were tried under the new law,
Many believe he would be convicted.
- Do you know what he's doing with himself?
- Yeah. You know, he volunteers at a church,
Goes on walks.
He's established a bunch of friends over time.
- He also got a job of sorts,
Buying and selling antiques at a local mall.
And, it appears, found romance again.
- I trust the doctors
And the people who have been treating him.
I trust their decision.
- Hinckley's childhood friends believe
He's earned a second chance and wish him well.
- I don't expect we'll see him at our high school reunion,
But if we did, I'd welcome him.
- But president reagan's son believes a man who tried
To assassinate the president, even if found insane,
Should never go free.
- I don't dispute that he was insane
When he did what he did,
But the crime that he committed
Was not just a crime against another person,
It was also a crime against the state.
The penalty has to be drastic,
And I would say permanent.
- In 2020, the court relaxed the conditions
Of hinckley's release even further.
Among his new freedoms,
He was now able to publicly display his artwork
And publish music using his own name.
As he eased into a more normal life,
Hinckley seemed content.
During one of his mental health evaluations
He told doctors, "this is the happiest
"I've been in my life.
"I'm happy as a clam, to be honest.
"I really am."
In 2022, a federal judge concluded
That hinckley's mental illness was in full remission,
And granted his unconditional release.
It was a new chapter in the life
Of john w. Hinckley jr.,
Who four decades after shooting an american president,
Appeared at peace with his past.
- That's all for this edition
Of "dateline: Secrets uncovered".
I'm craig melvin. Thank you for watching.