The daughter of Ronald Reagan has slammed the decision to free her father's would-be killer, saying "if John Hinckley is haunted by anything, I think it's that he didn't succeed in his mission to assassinate the president."
Writing on
her official website, Patti Davis says she's mortified Hinckley is now out of prison after his 1981 assassination bid and fears he's capable of causing more harm.
"When my father was lying in a hospital bed recovering from the gunshots that nearly killed him, he said, 'I know my ability to heal depends on my willingness to forgive John Hinckley.' I too believe in forgiveness," Davis says.
"But forgiving someone in your heart doesn't meant that you let them loose in Virginia to pursue whatever dark agendas they may still hold dear."
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that Hinckley, now 61, can be freed Aug. 5th, saying he no longer poses a threat to himself or others. He will live with his 90-year-old mother in Williamsburg.
For Davis, the news of Hinckley's impending release brings back horrible memories of March 30th, 1981, when all hell broke loose outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, where Reagan had just finished a speaking engagement.
"I will forever be haunted by a drizzly March afternoon when my father almost died, when [press secretary] Jim Brady lay in a pool of blood and two other men — [police officer] Thomas Delahanty and [Secret Service agent] Timothy McCarthy — were gravely wounded," she writes.
A year later, the pudgy-faced gunman – who saw his act as a way to impress actress Jodie Foster who he was obsessed with from the film "Taxi Driver" – was found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed in a state mental facility.
His freedom should be cause for worry, according to Davis.
"Here are a few other things Hinckley was doing at Saint Elizabeth's [Hospital]: Writing to mass murderers Ted Bundy and Charles Manson," Davis says.
"He's had several girlfriends, most notably Leslie deVeau who killed her 10-year-old daughter with a 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun while the girl slept, then tried to kill herself but only managed to shoot off her left arm….
"I'm not surprised by this latest development, but my heart is sickened."
Reagan died of pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer's disease in 2004 and Brady, paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, died in 2014.
Delahanty, shot in the neck, suffered permanent nerve damage and was forced to retire. McCarthy, hit in the abdomen, recovered and continued his law enforcement career. He is chief of police in Orland, Illinois
Davis, who took as her mother Nancy's maiden name as her surname, has written several books about her family over the years, including,
"The Long Goodbye: Memories of My Father" and
"The Way I See It: An Autobiography."