Doctor questions Hinckley's relationships

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A psychiatrist says John Hinckley, the man who shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has poor judgement in the relationships he develops with women.

Dr. Robert Phillips, testifying at a hearing to determine if Hinckley should be allowed more time away from St. Elizabeths, the Washington D.C. mental hospital where Hinckley has been treated for three decades, said the way the hospital developed the proposal to allow Hinckley to spend more time with his mother in Williamsburg, Va., was a "slipshod process," The (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press reported Tuesday.

Phillips said Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 shootings of Reagan, press secretary James Brady, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty, has shown poor judgement in developing attachments to women with their own mental problems.

Hinckley, 56, also tried to develop a relationship with a married woman who works at Eastern State Hospital, a mental facility where Hinckley works a few hours a week when he's staying with his mother in Virginia, CNN reported.

Hinckley's efforts to develop a relationship with the woman was "either fantasy or abject narcissism," Phillips testified on Monday. Hinckley has said he tried to kill Reagan in an effort to impress actress Jodie Foster.

The psychiatrist said Hinckley hasn't made any friends with men or women in Williamsburg and said Hinckley could become increasingly isolated if he spends more time there.

Federal prosecutors are opposed to the hospital's proposal that Hinckley be allowed two 17-day releases to visit his elderly mother, followed by six 24-day visits. He currently is allowed one 10-day visit each month.