• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1479 0

getting his court-appointed attorney, Stuart Johnson, to ask Hinckley if he really was a loner. Johnson was appointed by a federal judge to represent Hinckley and finally made it to the FBI’s Washington field office at 7:30. He received a briefing from top law enforcement officials about what Hinckley had told agents, and they then asked Johnson for permission to keep questioning his client. Johnson refused. However, he did grant one request. “Can you do us a favor?” an agent asked Johnson and his cocounsel, Edgar Wilhite. “It’s a big favor. Can you find out if there is anyone else out there wanting to hurt the president?”

Inside a small interview room, the attorneys spoke with Hinckley for about an hour. After the lawyers had finished, Johnson found the agent. “You have nothing to worry about,” the attorney said—in a way that he felt did not violate attorney-client privilege.

it was Agent Henry Ragle’s turn: Interview with Colo; Ragle testimony at pretrial evidence suppression hearing.

string of terse queries: Interview with Colo; Colo was impressed with Ragle’s open-mindedness, saying it was a sign that the FBI agent was a good investigator.

brought a fast-food hamburger: Ragle FBI report; FBI arrest log.

Colo used a personal history: In re-creating the interview of Hinckley, I relied on interviews with Colo and Chmiel, a memo authored by Colo detailing the session with Hinckley, and a transcript of tape-recorded notes that Colo made shortly after the interrogation. I also utilized FBI reports filed by Chmiel and Ragle, and testimony elicited during a pretrial suppression hearing from Colo and Ragle.

He ran to find Ragle: Despite their success in getting Hinckley to open up, the suspect’s statements were blocked from trial by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker ruled that the federal agents had violated the suspect’s rights by questioning him after he had asked to see an attorney while in custody at D.C. police headquarters. Shortly after FBI agents took custody of Hinckley, Myers, the homicide detective, told them that the suspect had asked to see an attorney before saying anything. That should have ended questioning until the attorney arrived. But the FBI agents read him his rights again and pressed ahead with the interrogation, violating Hinckley’s constitutional protection against self-incrimination, according to Parker’s ruling, which was upheld on appeal. The suppression of those statements likely did not affect the outcome of the trial—the information Hinckley provided the agents was introduced through other witnesses anyway. Most outside observers agree that the verdict largely hinged on testimony from psychiatrists. For those interested in the trial, I recommend Lincoln Caplan’s The Insanity Defense and the Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr.

15: “What Does the Future Hold?”

When the president seemed uncomfortable: Interviews with Edmondson and Sullivan; anesthesia record; Zimmerman reflection.

doctors increased his pain: Anesthesia record.

Doctors who had examined: Zimmerman reflection; interview with Aaron.

Ben Aaron, who was keeping: Interview with Aaron.

assistants sterilized the bronchoscope: Zimmerman reflection.

Aaron lubricated the: Interviews with Aaron, Zimmerman, Edmondson, and Sullivan; Zimmerman reflection; anesthesia record.

more conservative procedure: Interview with Zimmerman; Zimmerman reflection.

“Don’t pull at it now”: The Saving of the President; interview with Edmondson.

blood tests steadily improved: Zimmerman reflection.

“All in all, I’d rather be in Phil.”: Copy of notes provided by Joanne Drake, chief of staff of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Secret Service agents confiscated the notes as they were passed to nurses by the president. Eventually, they were given to Mrs. Reagan. Agents jotted times on some of the notes but not on all of them. I was able to triangulate the sequence of notes by using those times and by interviewing nurses and doctors.

Sullivan thought hard: Interview with Sullivan.

After Lyn