Psychiatry: Hinckley’s Odd Pen Pals

The testimony seemed a bit, well, schizophrenic. Appearing on behalf of John Hinckley, who attempted in 1981 to assassinate President Reagan, Psychiatrist Glenn Miller said the patient had improved enough during his five years in St. Elizabeths, a Washington mental hospital, to visit his parents without an escort. But at the same time Miller almost casually noted that Hinckley’s “judgment is not perfect.” Asked for examples by Hinckley’s lawyer, Miller testified that the patient had written to convicted Mass Murderer Theodore Bundy expressing sympathy “for the awful position that Bundy must be in.” Hinckley had also received a letter from “Squeaky” Fromme, who tried to shoot President Ford in 1975, and had obtained the prison address of Killer Charles Manson.

Federal District Judge Barrington Parker, startled by the disclosures, demanded to be shown Hinckley’s correspondence. Justice Department attorneys, who opposed the visitation request, ordered Bundy’s Florida cell searched for other Hinckley letters. After the testimony, hospital officials decided that maybe the one-day leave wasn’t such a good idea after all and withdrew the proposal.