Would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. to be released from mental hospital

John Hinckley Jr. will be released from the psychiatric hospital where he's lived for decades after attempting to kill President Ronald Reagan.

A federal judge agreed Wednesday to let the 61-year-old Hinckley go live with his elderly mother in Williamsburg, Virginia, as early as next week, reported NPR.

He won't be allowed to contact his victims, their relatives or actress Jodie Foster, who the obsessed Hinckley said inspired his March 30, 1981, assassination attempt.

Reagan survived the shooting but spent nearly two weeks in a hospital recovering from wounds and blood loss, and his press secretary, James Brady, spent the next 28 years in a wheelchair after he was shot in the head.

A court found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity the following year, which upset Reagan's family.

The judge said Hinckley could live alone or in a group home after staying with his mother for a year.

His brother and sister agreed to assist their 90-year-old mother in caring for Hinckley, who already spends 17 days each month living with his mother.

Saint Elizabeths Hospital has determined that Hinckley no longer presents a danger to himself or others, and doctors said his depression and psychosis are in remission.

Prosecutors would like to be able to monitor Hinckley's whereabouts and his Internet use.

"The question with Mr. Hinckley is, because he has this basic character flaw or personality flaw as it is called, of narcissism, can he really be changed? And will he really be a different person?" said former prosecutor Thomas Zeno.