Hillary was Vince Foster, who, oddly enuf, was not Jodie's foster brother.
wikistuff
Obsession with Jodie Foster[ edit]Hinckley became obsessed with the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which a disturbed protagonist, Travis Bickle, Member 9109121 played by Robert De Niro, plots to assassinate a presidential candidate. Hinckley developed an infatuation with actress Jodie Foster, who played a child prostitute in the film. [7] The Bickle character was in turn partly based on the diaries of Arthur Bremer, the attempted assassin of George Wallace. [4] When Foster entered Yale University, Hinckley moved to New Haven, Connecticut, for a short time to stalk her. He enrolled in a Yale writing class, [2] began slipping poems and messages under Foster's door, and repeatedly phoned her.
Failing to develop any meaningful contact with the actress, Hinckley developed such plots as aircraft hijacking and committing suicide in front of her to get her attention. Eventually he settled on a scheme to impress her by assassinating the president, with the theory that as a historical figure he would be her equal. Hinckley trailed President Jimmy Carter from state to state, and he was then arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, on a firearms charge. Penniless, he went home again; despite psychiatric treatment for depression, his mental health did not improve. He began to target the newly elected president Ronald Reagan in 1981 and started collecting information on the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, whom he saw as a role model.
Hinckley wrote to Foster just before his attempt on Reagan's life: [8]
Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself.... The reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you.
—John Hinckley, Jr.
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Treatment at St. Elizabeth's Hospital[ edit]Soon after his trial, Hinckley wrote that the shooting was “the greatest love offering in the history of the world” and was upset that Foster did not reciprocate his love. [18]
Around 1987, Hinckley applied for a court order allowing him periodic home visits. As part of the review of this request, the judge ordered Hinckley's hospital room searched. Carrying out that order, hospital officials found photographs and letters showing a continued obsession with Foster as well as evidence that Hinckley had exchanged letters with serial killer Ted Bundy and sought the address of mass murderer Charles Manson. Again the court denied Hinckley's request for additional privileges. After Hinckley was admitted, tests found that he was an “unpredictably dangerous” man who might harm himself, the target of his obsession (Foster), or any other third party. During 1983, he told Penthouse that on a typical day he will “see a therapist, answer mail, play guitar, listen to music, play pool, watch television, eat lousy food and take delicious medication." [19]
He was allowed to leave the hospital for supervised visits with his parents in 1999, and he was then granted longer unsupervised releases in 2000. [4] These privileges were revoked when he was found to have smuggled materials about Foster back into the hospital. Hinckley was later allowed supervised visits during 2004 and 2005. Court hearings were held in September 2005 on whether he could have expanded privileges to leave the hospital. Some of the testimony during the hearings centered on whether Hinckley is capable of having a normal relationship with a woman and, if not, whether that would have any bearing on what danger he would pose to society.[ citation needed]
On December 30, 2005, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley would be allowed visits, supervised by his parents, to their home in Williamsburg, Virginia. The judge ruled that Hinckley could have up to three visits of three nights and then four visits of four nights, each depending on the successful completion of the last. All of the experts who testified at Hinckley's 2005 conditional release hearing, including the government experts, agreed that his depression and psychotic disorder were in full remission and that he should have some expanded conditions of release.[ citation needed]
In 2007 Hinckley requested further freedoms including two one-week visits with his parents, as well as a month-long visit. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman denied that request on June 6, 2007.
On June 17, 2009, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley would be given the ability to visit his mother for a dozen visits of 10 days at a time, rather than six, spend more time outside of the hospital, and have a driver's license. The court also ordered that Hinckley be required to carry a GPS-enabled cell phone to track him whenever he was outside of his parents’ home, and he was forbidden to speak to the news media. [20] This was done over the objections of the prosecutors, who said that he was still a danger to others and had unhealthful and inappropriate thoughts about women. Hinckley recorded a song, “Ballad of an Outlaw,” which the prosecutors claim is "reflecting suicide and lawlessness." [21]
In March 2011, it was reported that a forensic psychologist at the hospital testified that "Hinckley has recovered to the point that he poses no imminent risk of danger to himself or others." [20] On March 29, 2011, the day before the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt, Hinckley's attorney filed a court petition requesting more freedom for his client, including additional unsupervised visits to the Kingsmill home of Hinckley's mother, Joanne. [22] On November 30, 2011, a hearing began in Washington that could result in his living full-time outside the hospital. The Justice Department opposed this, in the belief that Hinckley still poses a danger to the public, arguing that he had been known to deceive his doctors in the past. [23] [24]
By December 2013, the court ordered that the visits be extended further still. [25 |
