19821776 Club
Jury finds Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity; all 13 charges dismissed
The man who put a ricocheted bullet into the President's chest walks out of a Washington courtroom unconvicted, fifteen months after the shooting outside the Hilton.
Fifteen months after a bullet ricocheted off a limousine and into the chest of the President of the United States, the man who fired it walked out of a Washington courtroom without a criminal conviction. On June 21, 1982, a jury found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity on all 13 charges stemming from his March 30, 1981, shooting outside the Washington Hilton — an attack that wounded Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent, and a police officer. The verdict ignited a national debate about the insanity defense that reshaped American law within two years…
