On March 30, 1981 six shots rang out , one hitting president Ronald Regan, one hitting press secretary James Brady, on hitting officer Thomas Delatany, and one hitting secret service member Timothy McCarthy. The shots were fired from a .38 caliber revolver by John Hinckley Jr., to show his love for Jodie Foster.
Hinckley was immediately arrested and brought to trial on may 4, 1982. The trial went on for eight long weeks. Hinckley was charged with attempted assassination and twelve other crimes. Hinckley's attorneys were Vincent Fuller and Greg Craig. The Prosecution was headed by attorney Roger Adelman.
DEFENSE.
Dr. William T. Carpenter, Hinckley's psychiatrist, who he had been seeing before he committed the crime, stated that Hinckley had "substantial lack of capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct on March 30." With Hinckley's previous visits to a psychiatrist , and his past mental history, the defense used the insanity plea. The defense was trying to prove Hinckley lacked substantial capacity to know his acts were wrong.
Another psychiatrist testifying for the defense was Dr. David Bear. Bear stated both schizophrenia and clinical depression were present in the defendant. Bear also performed a CAT-scan on Hinckley's brain which showed his brain differed from a normal brain.
One of Hinckley's main defenses was his infatuation with the movie "Taxi Driver." Hinckley based his life on the experiences of Travis Bickle, a psychotic taxi driver. In the movie Bickle is a taxi driver who plans to assassinate a presidential candidate to "rescue" a woman. Bickle was unsuccessful, but Hinckley decided to carry out Bickle's plan.
PROSECUTION.
Dr. Park Dietz led the governments team of psychiatrists. He found that Hinckley suffered from three different types of personality disorders. They also found that Hinckley suffered from "Dysthymic Disorder," which is a mood of persistent sadness. Despite all of Hinckley's problems, the prosecution felt none of his problems made him legally irresponsible for his actions.
