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John Hinckley Hearing Delayed

Aired September 02, 2003 - 11:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Reagan's shooter, John Hinckley Jr., asked a federal judge today to let him have unsupervised visits with his parents.
CNN's Patty Davis was in court for that hearing. She joins us now from Washington -- hello, Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Heidi.

John Hinckley will have to wait another couple months before he hears whether he is going to have those unsupervised visits with his parents at their home in Williamsburg, Virginia. A judge today did delay that hearing to early November. Both sides had said they needed to present witnesses, and that would need to take several days. The judge he simply does not have time this week, so he delayed that hearing.

Now, Hinckley's attorney, Barry Levine, when he came out of court, said that he was certainly disappointed. And his mother said, though, that she remains hopeful. Now, Hinckley's lawyers contend that he is no longer a danger to himself or to others, that his mental illness is in full remission. Prosecutors, however, oppose Hinckley's conditional release. They say that he has a history of deception and violence.

Hinckley, now 48 years old, was in court today wearing a navy blue suit. He did not have handcuffs on. He also was looking very well-groomed. His parents were sitting behind him. But federal marshals decided that -- against a request by the parents that they be allowed to talk with him after the proceeding. They were citing security.

Now, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 attempted assassination of then President Ronald Reagan. Three others were shot as well. His motive was determined to have been to impress actress Jodie Foster. And he was committed to Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

But now, in recent years, he has been allowed to have supervised visits with his parents, going bowling, going to the movies, having dinner here in Washington, D.C., either with his parents or with staff from Saint Elizabeth's. The question now, which will be a couple more months down the line, is, will he be able to go out unsupervised, nobody with him accept his parents. And we'll have to wait a couple more months for that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Patty, any idea what the doctors are saying about Hinckley's mental condition?

DAVIS: Well, Barry Levine, his attorney, today said that five psychiatrists at Saint Elizabeth's have determined that he is perfectly fine, that he no longer has the psychoses, the depression, the narcissistic tendencies that he did, that mental illness.

But he has agreed, they say, to take anti-psychotic drugs, even though he doesn't have any of those symptoms anymore. He is being very cooperative. He's not aggressive. He's doing well there at Saint Elizabeth's. And that's why a lot of them feel that he should have this conditional release.

It's interesting to note, though, that the hospital says he shouldn't be released, just basically for -- they want five overnight stays and five daytime stays with his parents in Williamsburg; he should first have to have those here in D.C. If that goes well, they said they would extend that and allow him to move further out, at least be with his parents further away -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, we'll wait to hear more about this.

Patty Davis, thanks so much, from Washington today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 2, 2003 - 11:25   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Reagan's shooter, John Hinckley Jr., asked a federal judge today to let him have unsupervised visits with his parents.
CNN's Patty Davis was in court for that hearing. She joins us now from Washington -- hello, Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Heidi.

John Hinckley will have to wait another couple months before he hears whether he is going to have those unsupervised visits with his parents at their home in Williamsburg, Virginia. A judge today did delay that hearing to early November. Both sides had said they needed to present witnesses, and that would need to take several days. The judge he simply does not have time this week, so he delayed that hearing.

Now, Hinckley's attorney, Barry Levine, when he came out of court, said that he was certainly disappointed. And his mother said, though, that she remains hopeful. Now, Hinckley's lawyers contend that he is no longer a danger to himself or to others, that his mental illness is in full remission. Prosecutors, however, oppose Hinckley's conditional release. They say that he has a history of deception and violence.

Hinckley, now 48 years old, was in court today wearing a navy blue suit. He did not have handcuffs on. He also was looking very well-groomed. His parents were sitting behind him. But federal marshals decided that -- against a request by the parents that they be allowed to talk with him after the proceeding. They were citing security.

Now, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 attempted assassination of then President Ronald Reagan. Three others were shot as well. His motive was determined to have been to impress actress Jodie Foster. And he was committed to Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

But now, in recent years, he has been allowed to have supervised visits with his parents, going bowling, going to the movies, having dinner here in Washington, D.C., either with his parents or with staff from Saint Elizabeth's. The question now, which will be a couple more months down the line, is, will he be able to go out unsupervised, nobody with him accept his parents. And we'll have to wait a couple more months for that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Patty, any idea what the doctors are saying about Hinckley's mental condition?

DAVIS: Well, Barry Levine, his attorney, today said that five psychiatrists at Saint Elizabeth's have determined that he is perfectly fine, that he no longer has the psychoses, the depression, the narcissistic tendencies that he did, that mental illness.

But he has agreed, they say, to take anti-psychotic drugs, even though he doesn't have any of those symptoms anymore. He is being very cooperative. He's not aggressive. He's doing well there at Saint Elizabeth's. And that's why a lot of them feel that he should have this conditional release.

It's interesting to note, though, that the hospital says he shouldn't be released, just basically for -- they want five overnight stays and five daytime stays with his parents in Williamsburg; he should first have to have those here in D.C. If that goes well, they said they would extend that and allow him to move further out, at least be with his parents further away -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, we'll wait to hear more about this.

Patty Davis, thanks so much, from Washington today.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com