John Hinckley Jr., would-be Reagan assassin, given more freedom WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- John Hinckley Jr., confined to a Washington mental hospital for his 1981 attempt to kill President Ronald Reagan, was granted more freedom Friday. A judge ruled Hinckley, 55, can spend as much as 17 days at a time at his mother's home in Williamsburg, Va., WRC-TV, Washington, reported. In recent years, he had been allowed to visit his mother, but his trips out of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington were capped at 10 days. Hinckley seriously wounded Reagan, his press secretary Jim Brady, a Secret Service agent and a Washington police officer in March 1981. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982, a verdict that led many states to limit the use of insanity as a defense. Hinckley's motive was an obsession with the actress Jodie Foster and the hope of attracting her attention. He had earlier been arrested in Tennessee on a weapons charge while tracking President Jimmy Carter.