Hinckley Wrote to Killer, Has Manson’s Address, Doctor Says

Presidential assailant John W. Hinckley Jr., who is trying to convince a judge that his mental illness is in remission, wrote sympathetically to one multiple killer and kept mass murderer Charles Manson’s address, a psychiatrist testified Monday.

Hinckley wrote recently to Florida Death Row prisoner Theodore Bundy to “express his sorrow” about the “awkward position he must be in,” Dr. Glenn Miller testified at a hearing to determine whether Hinckley should be granted a 12-hour unescorted pass from a mental hospital to visit his parents on Easter.

Letter From Fromme

Also, Hinckley, 30, received a letter from Manson follower Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme, asking him to write to Manson at a California prison, Miller said. He said Hinckley refused to do so but kept Manson’s address.

Miller, who was testifying on behalf of Hinckley, cited those incidents as examples of lapses in Hinckley’s judgment.

Bundy is appealing his separate convictions in the slayings of two sorority sisters and a 12-year-old girl in Florida.

Manson is serving a life sentence for the August, 1969, slayings in Los Angeles of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

Fromme, one of Manson’s followers, is in prison for trying to assassinate former President Gerald R. Ford in Sacramento in 1975.

Miller’s testimony appeared to surprise U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker and federal prosecutors, who are trying to prevent Hinckley’s Easter pass from St. Elizabeths Hospital here, where he has been held since 1982.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Reagan, White House Press Secretary James S. Brady, a Washington police officer and a Secret Service agent on March 30, 1981.