James Brady’s Death Ruled a Homicide

Better late than never, right? The Washington D.C. medical examiner ruled the death of James Brady—Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was wounded in an assassination attempt on the president in 1981—a homicide on Friday. Brady died earlier this week as a result of the injuries he sustained that day 33 years ago, the medical examiner ruled, meaning that gunman John Hinckley Jr. could be charged with murder in federal court (he is currently a mental patient at St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Washington). Federal prosecutors are reviewing the ruling. Brady was 73 when he died and had been partially paralyzed with his speech slurred since the incident.