Hinckley's lawyers want off the case

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) - John Hinckley, Jr.'s lawyers filed a motion in court asking to be taken off Hinckley's case due to outstanding legal bills.

Hinckley, 56, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 and has since been confined at Washington, D.C.'s St. Elizabeths Hospital.

Special coverage: John Hinckley, Jr.

Hinckley's six lawyers stated in the motion an increased number of hearings the government has "insisted upon" have caused a financial strain on the Hinckley family, which notified the lawyers they could not keep paying them for their services.

The lawyers based their case off of rule 1.16 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of the D.C. Bar that a lawyer can withdraw him or herself from representing a client if "the client fails substantially to fulfill an obligation to the lawyer regarding the lawyer’s services and has been given reasonable warning that the lawyer will withdraw unless the obligation is fulfilled . . . [or if the] representation will result in an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer.”

Since 2006, Hinckley has been able to visit his mother in Williamsburg for 10-day stretches, 12 times a year. He was in court November appealing for longer conditional release. Earlier this month, prosecutors filed a motion to keep Hinckley at St. Elizabeths.

Since last year, his legal team, as well as St. Elizabeths, have fought to transfer him to a behavioral health program incorporating social groups as part of an expansion of his current conditional release. In the same documents recommending Hinckley stay at St. Elizabeths, prosecutors say Colonial Behavioral Health, a Williamsburg facility, had withdrawn their application to assist Hinckley.