Hinckley lawyer wants to quit after 20 years

Barry Levine , The lawyer who has spent almost two decades representing John Hinckley Jr. is quitting after Hinckley’s family said it would no longer pay the legal bills for his quest to spend more time at his mother’s Kingsmill home in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Levine submitted a motion Friday afternoon seeking to end his participation in the case, along with that of other lawyers at his D.C.-based firm, Dickstein Shapiro.

" Levine wrote in his withdrawal motion. "There are significant outstanding legal bills in arrears, and the Hinckley family has informed undersigned counsel that it will not provide future funding for attorneys’ fees, expenses or related experts in this matter."

A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan. The shooting at the Washington DC Hilton left four people wounded: Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, who was critically injured, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty.

After the not-guilty-by-insanity verdict, Hinckley was ordered committed to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. Since 1992, Levine has represented Hinckley in a series of motions seeking longer home visits and less supervision. Hinckley, who was 25 when he fired on Reagan, is now 57.