Judge Friedman has continued to set Hinckley free in stages. A 2005 ruling spells out his approach.

Hinckley, Friedman noted, has never tried to escape during hundreds of outings into DC with hospital staff or on unsupervised visits with his parents. “He has followed every condition imposed by the Court in authorizing these visits,” Friedman wrote. “These visits have been therapeutic and beneficial.

“On the ultimate mixed questions of law and fact, dangerousness, the Court finds that, given the testimony by the Hospital and government experts, Mr. Hinckley will not be a danger to himself or others.”

Friedman based his conclusions on Hinckley’s behavior and on testimony by doctors that his psychosis was “in full remission.”

But Hinckley still has a narcissistic disorder, his therapists say. It requires control and vigilance, both of which Friedman has applied in strong measure.

Friedman’s last major ruling, in July 2009, allowed Hinckley to spend ten days in Williamsburg on 12 occasions with a long list of conditions, including that his mother be by his side at all times except for two hours twice a day before dark. When he’s unaccompanied, he must carry a GPS-enabled cell phone.

Friedman also permitted Hinckley to get a driver’s license, with conditions: He can’t drive within 50 miles of DC unless he’s going to or from Williamsburg.

That requirement might have been an effort on Judge Friedman’s behalf to mollify the Secret Service.

No one from the agency would comment on Hinckley, but a former Reagan aide who worked closely with the Secret Service says, “There’s something symbolic here that goes to the service’s code of honor. If you try to kill the President, you are never going to walk the street again.”

Hinckley’s lawyer, Barry Levine, understands what he’s up against.

“The Secret Service has been invited by us to shadow John Hinckley whenever and wherever they wish,” he says. “They are unfettered. We have no objection.”

From time to time, Levine says, Secret Service agents show up at the Hinckley home in Williamsburg.

At St. Elizabeths, Hinckley recently moved into a new building that offers spacious rooms and an enclosed courtyard. He’s pretty much free to walk the campus, compose songs on his guitar, feed his cats. He works at the hospital’s library every morning and cares for the small garden in front. He attends counseling sessions with at least four therapists.

In Williamsburg, Hinckley’s mother lives in Kingsmill, a 2,900-acre resort community. It has three golf courses, a yacht club, and a spa.

Clinical records from 2007 describe one weekend visit to Kingsmill. Hinckley cooked breakfast and took a walk to the marina. His brother, Scott, was visiting from Dallas; the two talked about opening an investment account and worked up a model portfolio.

In Kingsmill, he took guitar lessons and bought a new guitar, an electric Fender Stratocaster. He considered putting his music on RedFizz.com, a Web site where songwriters can get feedback. His sister, Diane, came in from Dallas. He went bowling with her and Scott. He got a massage.

John Hinckley Sr. started to fail in 2007. John Jr. helped move his father to an assisted-living facility. When his father died in January 2008, Hinckley sat next to his mother at the Presbyterian church. He stood next to her in the reception line and shook hands with well-wishers.

But things haven’t always gone so smoothly in Williamsburg. Judge Friedman allowed Hinckley to get a volunteer job, but the Humane Society, the Salvation Army, and other groups turned him down.