Hinckley Denied Unescorted Visits With Family

WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied a request by President Reagan’s would-be assassin Thursday for unescorted family visits from a mental hospital because he has “deceived those treating him in ways too numerous to recount.”

U.S. District Judge June L. Green cited testimony from the chief pharmacist at St. Elizabeths Hospital as evidence that John W. Hinckley Jr. has failed to show that “he will not be a danger to himself or others” in public.

The pharmacist, Jeanette Wick, said during a four-day hearing last week that she felt Hinckley started stalking her at the end of a two-month period when she was friendly with him in 1995.

Hinckley, 42, has been confined at St. Elizabeths since 1982, when he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981, shooting of Reagan; the president’s press secretary, James S. Brady; a Washington police officer and a Secret Service agent.

The hospital had already denied the request for the monthly 12-hour visits with his parents, unescorted by hospital staff.

Government witness Dr. Raymond F. Patterson testified that he believed Hinckley’s major illnesses are in remission. But, he said: “Some very core personality issues remain unchanged.”

Patterson described Hinckley’s relationship with Wick as having “striking similarities” to his behavior toward Jodie Foster, the actress Hinckley stalked and tried to impress by shooting Reagan.