WASHINGTON Reagan gunman allowed unsupervised family visits

Former first lady Nancy Reagan said she and her family feared for the public safety.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The man who tried to kill President Reagan won permission for unmonitored visits with his parents, a decision criticized by the former president's family.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said John Hinckley Jr. may have six visits with his parents in the Washington area without staff from the mental hospital where he has lived for more than two decades. Each visit may last 12 hours. If they go well, he and his parents may be allowed two 32-hour overnight visits within 50 miles of the capital.
However, he included a number of strict conditions and rejected Hinckley's request to travel to his parents' home in Williamsburg, Va., about three hours south of Washington. He said a detailed schedule must be submitted to him two weeks before each unsupervised visit.
Hinckley, 48, has lived at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington since 1982, when he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the shootings of Reagan, presidential press secretary James Brady and two law enforcement officers. Reagan was nearly killed and Brady was permanently disabled. Hinckley said he shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster.
Disappointed reaction
Former first lady Nancy Reagan said she and her family were disappointed by the ruling.
"Although the judge limited Mr. Hinckley's travel to the Washington, D.C., area, we continue to fear for the safety of the general public," she said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with all of Mr. Hinckley's victims today, especially Jim Brady and his family, as they must continue to live with the tragic consequences of the assassination attempt."
Hinckley has been allowed supervised visits off the hospital grounds for several years.