Not guilty by reason of insanity
06/21/1982 AD acquitted
Having been charged with 13 offenses, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The defense psychiatric reports portrayed Hinckley as insane while the prosecution reports characterized him as legally sane.
Hinckley was transferred into psychiatric care from Bureau of Prisons custody on August 18, 1981.
Soon after his trial, Hinckley wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world" and was disappointed that Foster did not reciprocate his love.
The verdict resulted in widespread dismay. As a consequence, the United States Congress and a number of states revised laws governing when a defendant may use the insanity defense in a criminal prosecution. Idaho, Montana, and Utah abolished the defense altogether.
In the US, before the Hinckley case, the insanity defense had been used in less than 2% of all felony cases and was unsuccessful in almost 75% of those trials.
Public outcry over the verdict led to the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which altered the rules for consideration of mental illness of defendants in federal criminal court proceedings.
In 1985, Hinckley's parents wrote Breaking Points, a book detailing their son's mental condition.
Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.[20] After Hinckley was admitted, tests found that he was an "unpredictably dangerous" man who might harm himself or any third party.
Lattitude: 38.9072° N
Longitude: 77.0369° W
Region: North America
Modern Day United States
Subjects Who or What acquitted?
Objects To Whom or What was acquitted?
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John Hinckley Jr. American man who attempt...
Events in 1982 MORE
