Coroner Rules Former White House Press Secretary James Brady’s Death a Homicide

Things that make you go hmm …

A coroner has ruled that the death of  James Baker, former White House Press Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, was a homicide. Hmm, I must admit like at Hot Air, I was a bit surprised to read the headline when it came across. I thought to myself, was he poisoned. How could 73 year old James Baker’s death have been a homicide? I did not remember reading anything of the sort when he died August 4, 2014 in in Obit. And now for something a little different. Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan at the hands of John W. Hinckley Jr.

The death this week of James S. Brady, the former White House press secretary, has been ruled a homicide 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, police department officials here said Friday.

Officials said the ruling was made by the medical examiner in Northern Virginia, where Mr. Brady died Monday at 73. The medical examiner’s office would not comment on the cause and manner of Mr. Brady’s death.

“We did do an autopsy on Mr. Brady, and that autopsy is complete,” a spokeswoman said.

Gail Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Brady family, said the ruling should really “be no surprise to anybody.”

“Jim had been long suffering severe health consequences since the shooting,” she said, adding that the family had not received official word of the ruling from either the medical examiner’s office or the police.

The question that arises is whether f John W. Hinckley Jr. can be tried for the murder of James Brady. Sorry to say, the answer is most probably no. However, hopefully this will allow for the nut job John W. Hinckley Jr. to forever stay in a mental institution until the day he dies.

As Eugene Volokh writes in the WAPO, “Could the shooter, John Hinckley Jr., be tried for murdering Brady, even though he has already been tried for attempting to kill Brady, and found not guilty by reason of insanity? The answer is no, likely for two different reasons.” He brings up the year-and-a-day rule, Double jeopardy and collateral estoppel.  Please read Volokh’s reasoning and the many cited examples of case law.