No Federal Appeal on Hinckley’s Visits Home

The Justice Department will not appeal a judge’s decision allowing John W. Hinckley Jr., the man who shot President Reagan, to visit his parents without the presence of staff from a mental hospital.

In a 50-page ruling Dec. 17, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman granted Hinckley, 48, six unsupervised visits in the Washington area. However, he attached some strict conditions and rejected Hinckley’s request to travel to his parents’ home in Williamsburg, Va., about three hours south of the nation’s capital.

Phillips wouldn’t comment on whether any visits had taken place. Friedman’s decision was sharply criticized by Reagan’s family and relatives of others who had been shot.