Hinckley's Hospital To Weigh In

A federal judge is considering whether to allow the man who shot President Reagan to leave the grounds of a psychiatric hospital for unsupervised visits with his parents.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman has indicated he is prepared to let John Hinckley Jr. make the trips with certain restrictions, but he first wants to hear testimony from officials at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where Hinckley is being treated.

Hinckley, 48, has been a patient there since he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan and three others outside a Washington hotel in March 1981. Hinckley said he shot the president to impress actress Jodie Foster.

Hospital representatives were scheduled to testify on Wednesday, when the four-day hearing on Hinckley's request is expected to conclude.

Hinckley's bid to make the visits got a boost last week from testimony by two psychiatrists for the government. They said his request should be approved but with more restrictions than originally proposed.

The psychiatrists agreed Hinckley should be able to see his parents without an escort as long as he remained in the Washington area, security procedures were put in place and his parents agreed to monitor him closely. They also said Hinckley's parents should provide feedback to the medical staff treating him and suggested a board of hospital administrators review each trip.

But Friedman was concerned that he had not heard the hospital staff testify. He said the only word from the hospital came last August in a written response to Hinckley's request for 10 unsupervised visits with his parents at their home near Williamsburg, Va. For five of those, he would like to stay overnight.

The hospital agreed Hinckley should be allowed some unescorted trips, with the first four taking place in the Washington area.

The judge said he did not know if hospital officials had changed their opinions, nor whether they would agree to the more stringent conditions that the government's experts asked him to impose.

Under a 1999 federal appeals court ruling, Hinckley has been able to take supervised day trips off hospital grounds. Since then, he has taken dozens of trips with his parents to restaurants, bowling alleys and stores in the Washington area.

The Reagan family and the government oppose Hinckley's latest request.

By Sam Hananel