Just so you know the rest of the story

John Warnock Hinckley, Jr. to be a completely free man 40 years after assassination attempt. Hinckley, 67, was born in Ardmore, Okla. and moved with his wealthy family to Dallas, Texas in 1959 at the age of four.

Hinckley is an American who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan’s first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinckley wounded Reagan, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and SecretService agent Tim McCarthy. He also critically wounded Press Secretary James Brady, who was permanently disabled in the shooting and died from his injuries 33 years later.

It was rumored that Hinckley was seeking fame to impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had an obsessive fixation. During his trial in 1982, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remained under institutional psychiatric care for over three decades.

Public outcry over the verdict led to the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which altered the rules for consideration of mental illness of defendants in Federal Criminal Court proceedings in the U.S. The reform act also shifted the burden of proof.

Before Hinckley, the prosecution had to bear the burden of proof and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane. However, the post-Hinckley reform put the burden of proof on the defense. They now must have clear evidence that the defendant was legally insane at the time the crime was committed.

Hinckley spent years in an institution until 2003. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman began allowing Hinckley to spend longer and longer stretches in the community with requirements like attending therapy and restrictions on where he can travel. He was released on convalescent leave in 2016. He was allowed to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Va., though still under restrictions.

Some of those include allowing officials access to his electronic devices, email, and online accounts; being barred from traveling to places where he knows there will be someone protected by the Secret Service and giving three days’ notice if he wants to travel more than 75 miles from his home in Virginia.

In 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley could be released from psychiatric care as he was no longer considered a threat to himself or others. Friedman said in September that he would free Hinckley from all remaining restrictions on June 15, 2022, if Hinckley continued to do well living in the community in Virginia as he has for years.

In 2020, a ruling was issued that Hinckley may showcase his artwork, writings, and music publicly under his own name, rather than anonymously as he had in the past. Since then, he has maintained a YouTube channel for his music. On July 8, Hinckley - who plays guitar and sings and has plans to give a concert in Brooklyn.