For those unaware, Michael Hayes’ deadly shooting spree back in 1988 is an infamous here in the Piedmont. It made national news — I was traveling in California that summer and read about it in a Bay-area newspaper. Hayes went to trial for the murder of four people but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

This afternoon the Winston-Salem Journal reports:

A Forsyth Superior Court judge ruled today that Michael Hayes, the man who killed four people and wounded five others in a shooting spree in 1988, be released, with conditions, from Dorthea Dix Hospital, Hayes’ attorney Karl Knudsen said.

He must submit to random drug testing and searches.

He can’t own any guns and he is not allowed to come into Forsyth County.

The conditions are in place in for a year. After a year, a judge will review whether Hayes complied with the conditions.

If at any time Hayes violates the conditions, he will have to return to Dix.

For what it’s worth, Hayes says he will continue to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. I don’t mean to besmirch AA, but somehow I find that of little comfort.