John W. Hinckley, Jr., will not be charged with murder following the death of President Ronald Reagan’s former press secretary James Brady, prosecutors said Friday.
But Hinckley, now 59, will not be going free. He will remain at St. Elizabeths Hospital,where he has been held for the past 32 years, since being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981 attempted assassination of Reagan.
Reagan, Brady and two other men were shot. All survived, though Brady remained incapacitated by a bullet to his brain.
Brady died Aug. 14, 2014 at the age of 73. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Brady’s death a homicide and concluded it was caused by the 1981 gunshot wound. Prosecutors noted, though, that a Washington, D.C. rule in effect at the time of the 1981 shooting precluded murder prosecutions if the victim died more than a year and a day following the attack.
“The Brady family respects the decision of the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia not to move forward with prosecution,” the family said in a written statement. “We deeply appreciate the extraordinary outpouring of love and support since the Bear's passing. We miss him greatly.”