Roger Adelman, 74, Gouernment Lautyer Who Prosecuted Reagan’s 1981 Assailant BYWILLIAMGRIMES Roeer M. Adelman, a govern’ .enilu*y”. whose unsuccessful prosecution of John W. HinckleY ir. in the l98l shooting o[ President Ronald Reagan and his press secretary, James S. Brady, ied to significant changes in the law governing the insanity defense in criminal trials, died on Sept. 12 at his home in washington. He was 74. The cause was comPlications of congestive heart failure, said Daniel E. Toomey, a lriend who worked with Mr. Adelman in the United States attorney’s office in Washington. Mr. Adelman was a senlor Drosecutor in that office when Mr. Hinckley shot the President on March 30, 1981, outside tbe Washington Hilton hotel, where Reagan had just addressed labor leaders. Mingling with onlookers’ Mr. Hincktey opened fire with a revolver as Reagan left the hotel, wounding Mr. Brady, a District of Columbia Police officer, a Secret Service agent and, finally, the Dresident, whom Secret Service lgents hustled into his limousine. Mr. Brady, who was shot in the head, sustained brain damage and was partlY ParalYzed. He died in August 2014, and the Northern Virginia medical examiner, 33 years after the shooting’ ruled the death a homicide. At the trial, lawyers for the defense arsued that Mr. Hinckley lived in a iantasy world, obsessed with the film “Taxi Driver” and its Young star Jodie Foster, whom he had hoped to impress bY assasslnating the president. Mr. Adelman argued that Mr’ Hinckley, despite his obsessions, had not acted on impulse but had carried out a carefully considered scheme. “This was not a random or thoughtless act;’ he told the jury on the opening day of the trial. Rather, he said, it was “planned, thought out, calculated.” In his closing argument, Mr. Adelman said: “The time has come for John Hinckley Jr.’ for the first time in his life, to take resDonsibilitv for what he’s done fie can’t ivoid responsibility for shooting President Reagan.” The jury found Mr. Hinckley not guilty bY reason of insanity, a decision that shocked the Public and lawmakers across tne countrv He was sent for treatment to St. Elizabeths, a Psychiatric hosnital in Washington, where he has been confined ever since. In 1984, in direct response to the verdict, Congress Passed the ComDrehensive Crime Control Act, which set a higher bar for the insanity defense in federal courts, Previously, defendants could be found not guilty bY reason of insanity if it could be shown that, because of a mental disease or defect, they could not control themselves well enough to obey the law or could not tell the difter’ Roger M. Adelman in 1988, as a partner.at Kirkpatrick & Lockhai. Before that, he was an assistant United States attorney’ thought were representatives ol an Arab sheikh hoping to buy Po, litical influence. Etut!r ADLER_MOdCIIE B” dred ol her home in 5cor5- dole. NY on seotember lb, oge o8. Devoled wife of lhe lote Theodore w Aoler ono loving mother of Louise ono the lote Thomos. BoTn ono roised In Mississipoi, she oi_ lended’Ote Miss” ono rnen worked ol the Dovton Alr Field where she mel Coploln Teddv.’ Volunteered lor over 45 veors ol the While Plorns Hosodol Pohent Librorv ono Scorsdole womon s Lluo ooerolron Bookshelr’ 5ervl_ ces Privole, RelolLves ooo ffiends ore inviled lo !ne home sundov, SeptemDer.2u’ from l2-zom ond on Monoov, September 2l from 5’lom contributions mov be mooe ro Whne Ploins Hosoilol. BELSON-Jerome’ Dossed owov Peocefullv on Thursdov morning Seolember lTlh surrounded bv hls ro_ milv. He wos Predeceoseo ov his beloved wife Moxine ono son Mlchoel (KorhY). He is survrved bY his son I oo, doushler Brionne (sonford), brother Viclor ond 9rono_ chrldren Mollhew (Jodr), Joshuo (Kolv), Joclvn, Ioov ond Jonolhon, ono greol grondchrldren Nooh, Arlel, ond Poislev. The fune.or wrll be held SundoY, seplember 2oth ot l2Pm or Communtlv Svnosogue of Rve, 2m Foresl Ave. Rve, NY. He wrll oe missed bv ihose wno Knew ham besl for his lorger rnon life Personolilv. In lieu .ot flowers, donoiions con oe mode to New Hooe Commu’ An extroordinorv mon; on ex’ lroordinorv Portnet on exfro’ ordinory lriend _ Never to oe duolicoJed 09oin Love, Phvllis & Alon woloed ence between right and wrong Under the new law, lack of control was no longer a defense. “The Hinckley verdict had a huge impact on insanity defense law,” ChristoPher Slobogin’ a law orofessor at Vanderbilt Universi’ iv who has written extensively on the law and mental health, said in an email. “ln the direct wake of the verdict, several states abolished the defense, and well over half the smtes significantly r€- duced its scope. Since Hinckley’s trial, the insanity defense has never been the same.” Roger Mark Adelman was born on June 25, 1941, in Norrtstown. Pa., where his father, Louis, and his mother, the former MarY .4n unsuccessful case thatled to much srn’cfer limits on the insanity defense. Butz, ran a retail carpet store. He olaved football and basketball at i,toiristown Area High School. At Dartmouth College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1963, he was a varsity r0wer. After receiving his law degree from the University of PennsYF vania in 1966, Mr’ Adelman served in the ArmY, which sent him to its language school in Monterey, Calif., to learn Russian. on completing his militarY service, he began working for the United States attorney’s office in Washington, Prosecuting homlcides, robberies and kidnaPPings. as well as white-collar crime and some of the earliest organlzedcrime cases under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, statute. As Dart of the F.B.l. sting operation known as Abscam, he helped prosecute Representative Richard KellY, a Florida Republican who had been videotaPed accepting $25,000 in bribe moneY from undercover agents who he money not because he was cor- I “a.ro*-r”.o-“. rupt but because he wanted .to Llf””l’;,’.**-“.Hi,’J”::lL1 iii,i ii”,n”ii,” ,”;; i;.i.;i; ::li”? iJ”‘ig ::T’ffi”.R had offered him the money.” Mr’ ‘,L^T:’x::.:l nao ollere0 tlllll tllc ]i”‘1″”9″i,: rrrurrsJ, “” 1 liioFe Beison’48L.’80HoN, Adelman told the magazine on exrroordrnorv mor ond-o w”ihiGo” Lawyer in 20d? ‘As I B:[‘3:?:? ‘:il3l’,’.1R'” “JJ]”‘ it turned out, the man who pard lli-!’Jf,l, lii?”.’i.’l”iii him the money was an undercov- J Mox,”e eetson ?.9Hol-\,-9: er F.B.l. ageni. Not surprisingiv, I ftf;:’ ::,.,”J:%”#”.”.”‘i3! that defense did not get too tu: I H:iJifJ'”.:,,?S:’:”::?::”l: with the jury.” Mr. Kelly was I the un,versriv’s boord or found guiliy 6f briberv and con’ $ts’.t1:’.?!3t1″‘hi.”H:’h3* spiracy at his l98l trial and I ocumen. hls comoossion for served 13 months inprison. PSli#;’fi?.1. ii| 33f15913i.!: “At trial, he claimed he took the Mr. Adelman, who leaves no immediate survivors, told washington Lawyer that servillg as an asii.tant attorney with rhe Unlted States attorney’s office was “the best job a trial lawyer can have.” When asked to exPlain, he sild: “well, lt starts with the fact that as an assistant U.S. attorney you can stand uP in court and say, ‘Ladtes and gentlemen, I rePresent the united states.’ There are few other places in life that You can do that, especiallY at 28 Years old.” Starr declined to bring charges. u”‘”,il,1′;TJlA. rimons, oeon In 1997, Mr. Adelman started ondJohnv Brqnnon hi ;’ ;*; i;; ii’;, specializing i ” white-collar defense work and “ii3l”il?’.?,1”,”‘il.”J.””51T:; , o,”-.,t”3$?ii”.”i class-action litigation against to- i bacco companies. He taught evi- ] aersol-:e.o-u. dence and criminal procedure “t i 5i””33S1”,:!tfli!:?:””T! the Georgetown University Law L 6;neEor G;eoler New York center foi 25 years before retir- I q:Yrnonihem”l-o’tt”t, “oi”.3!i ins in lee8. [,’,j:i i::;[:.i’*’;l%.”# tn May, the Council for Court mi-n-r-rd. onJ*ir PeJS-A9T; Excellenie gave him its Justice ::::1 t3′,i'””:i3:'””‘.:f t?'”7 Potter Stewart Award lor his con- | orotne’, chrldren o’d erond’ tributions to the administration ] cn”oren oljustice in Washington. , BELsoN-Jerome. ln 1988, Mr. Adelman became.a n:m?’r’..:f:E:;; fliJi: Dartner in the law firm of Kirk- liiseio-noZ’sr’ne”sneo nim’ patrick & Lockharl. (now K&L i”xfull.9 -,?:;”%;,””‘?,’J.’ .3e'”””‘I;'”‘;t’:ilt[i”il;n’$i[1if,{;3kii’,l1:fi:T+; i