NEW YORK -- The following are excerpts from a tape-recorded monologue made by accused presidential assailant John Hinckley Jr. in which he talks about his obsession with the slaying of John Lennon and a death pact with actress Jodie Foster.
In opening remarks Tuesday at Hinckley's trial in Washington, his lawyer, Vincent Fuller, said Hinckley believed himself to be Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, and even, bent on suicide, went to the Dakota Apartments in Manhattan where Lennon was slain.
Fuller also said Hinckley contemplated killing Miss Foster, an action that Hinckley described on the tape as a 'final pact' between him and the young actress.
While the tape contains no reference to President Reagan, Hinckley's despair is evident and he vows to 'make a statement' on Miss Foster's behalf in 1981.
The tape was made on New Year's Eve, three months before Reagan was shot and about three weeks after Lennon was shot to death on Dec. 8, 1980. A transcript of the tape was obtained by UPI last year.
It was seized in Hinckley's Washington hotel room by federal agents shortly after Reagan and three others were shot in Washington on March 30, 1981. Hinckley's despair at Lennon's death and his obsession with Lennon and Foster:
'John Lennon is dead. So what the hell (does life) matter ... I still think about Jodie all the time. That's all I think about really, that and John Lennon's death. They were sort of binded together before Dec. 8, they been binded together since last summer really. John and Jodie and now one of them is dead. It was such a shock to me. It just blew my mind. Now Jodie is the only one in the world that matters.'
'I can't go the whole year 1981, I hate the, I don't care anything about the decade the '80s or the future or anything because the dream is over now just as Lennon said 10 years ago, but it's really over now. Jodie Foster is the only dream now.' Hinckley's love for Miss Foster
'I read about Jodie and and look at her pictures and just, my heart screams with love. I hate to think of her being with other guys. It just kills me, just devastates me to think about that. Sometimes I think I'd rather see her not, not on earth than being with other guys ... but I have to go with her. I wouldn't want to stay on earth without her on earth. It would have to be some kind of final pact between me and Jodie. I think about that a lot. That's all I really think about.' Hinckley's plans for the future:
'Jodie is the only thing that matters now. Anything that I might do in 1981 would be solely for Jodie Foster's sake. And I mean that sincerely. I want to make some kind of statement or something on her behalf. Just tell the world in some way I worship and idolize her.'
