Word: hinckley
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Tears, anger and remorse at the trial of John Hinckley...
...defense will undoubtedly use a number of Hinckley's rambling verses to buttress its portrayal of the would-be killer as a tortured psychotic who cannot be held accountable for his actions. "[Pretend] you are Satan's long-lost illegitimate son/ a solitary weed among the carnations," Hinckley wrote in one poem, "a child without a home/ the loser of a one-man race." Another verse notes: "I have become what I wanted to be all along, a psychopathic poet...
According to his attorney, Hinckley was a lonely, timid child who became increasingly withdrawn as he grew up and finally retreated into a world of fantasies. Hinckley dropped in and out of college, went to Hollywood seeking instant success as a songwriter, created a mythical group called the American Front Organization. He became obsessed with the film Taxi Driver, the story of a loner who stalks a presidential candidate; Foster was featured as a child prostitute. After the murder of Lennon, Hinckley visited the Dakota apartment building in New York City and stood with a pistol in his pocket...
...Hinckley's well-to-do family in Colorado tried to help him but without success. His mother Jo Ann testified to years of anguish, noting that her son's depressed condition had worsened dramatically in the fall of 1980. In October the family considered placing him in a mental hospital; a psychiatrist said no, urging the Hinckleys to persuade their son to accept responsibility for himself. John's parents gave him an ultimatum: by March 1, 1981, he was to have a job. Instead, he left home; a week later he called from New York, incoherent...
...week before the assassination attempt, Mrs. Hinckley drove her son to the Denver airport to catch a flight to California. Getting out of the car, he told her: "Well, Mom, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me." Mrs. Hinckley told the court: "He looked so bad and so sad and so absolutely in despair, and I was frightened and I didn't know what to do. I said, 'You're very welcome,' and I said it so coldly." That was the last she heard of John, she said, until...