WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan, may spend more time outside a Washington psychiatric hospital, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman issued an order this week that will allow Hinckley to spend as much as 17 days a month with his mother in Williamsburg, Va., beginning in March, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The order clarifies some issues left from his original order in December, the newspaper said.
Hinckley's time outside St. Elizabeths Hospital has been capped at 10 days a month until now.
The goal of the expanded visits is to help Hinckley become immersed in the community and do volunteer work at a hospital.
The staff at St. Elizabeths is to monitor his activities closely, the Post said.
"It's transformative," the Post quoted Hinckley's attorney, Barry Levine, as saying. "Now, most of his life will be in Williamsburg."
Hinckley, 58, has been in treatment since being found not guilty by reason of insanity in his 1991 attempt to shoot Reagan to death. Reagan was wounded in the incident, as were police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and White House press secretary James Brady.
Hinckley had an obsession with actress Jodie Foster and hatched his plan to kill the president as a way to impress her.
