Arthur Bremer, whose attempted assassination of Alabama Gov. George Wallace during the 1972 Democratic presidential primary left the candidate permanently paralyzed, is scheduled to officially end his 53 year sentence and be permanently released from supervision in May according to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

MDPSCS Deputy Director of Media Relations Lowell Mesler confirmed that Bremer’s release date is May 15, 2025, which, coincidentally, falls on the 53rd anniversary of Wallace’s shooting at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland.

Paroled from prison in 2007 after serving 35 years of his 53 year sentence, Bremer has remained on “mandatory supervised release” in the years since. 

The terms of Bremer’s parole require him to remain under constant electronic monitoring, avoid all elected officials and candidates, undergo regular mental evaluations, and secure written permission and supervision before leaving the state of Maryland.

Once his sentence ends, Bremer, who is 74-years-old, will be freed from following his conditions for parole.

David Azbell, who served as Wallace’s last spokesman and personal aide, said Bremer would not have been released if he committed his crime in more recent times.

“Under current federal law, attempting to kill a presidential candidate carries a sentence of life in prison, but at the time of Bremer’s conviction, there was no federal statute against shooting a candidate, so he was tried under Maryland state law,” Azbell said. “Considering the lifelong injuries Gov. Wallace sustained and the fact that he also shot a Secret Service agent, an Alabama State Trooper, and a campaign volunteer that day, I am among those who believe Bremer should be spending the rest of his life locked inside a prison.”

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A Maryland jury deliberated for 95 minutes before finding Bremer guilty on four counts of assault with attempt to murder and sentencing him to 63 years in prison, but an appeals judge later reduced his term to 53 years.

Invited by the judge to address the courtroom immediately following the verdict, Bremer said, “[The prosecutor would] like society to be protected from someone like me. Looking back on my life, I would have liked it if society had protected me from myself. That’s all I have to say at this time.”

In the decades since, Bremer has steadfastly refused to speak with reporters, grant interviews, or publicly discuss his crime, but after being denied parole in 1997, he referred to Wallace as a “segregationist dinosaur” in an appeal letter he sent to the parole commission and claimed, “I got a ‘Bama lynching at my parole hearing and the Chairman is whistling Dixie.”

Wardens at Maryland Correction Institution – Hargerstown, where Bremer was incarcerated, have described him as “an ideal inmate” who was a “loner” and had no friends among the other prisoners.

Bremer was most recently reported as living in Cumberland, Maryland, where he lives a quiet life and continues to avoid the spotlight and any interaction with the news media. 

Upon being informed that Bremer’s sentence was ending, George Wallace Jr., the son of governors George and Lurleen Wallace, noted that his father had long ago forgiven his attacker for the decades of injuries, pain, and suffering that resulted from the shooting.

“As a committed Christian, my father understood that in order to seek forgiveness from those you have wronged, you must first be willing to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged you,” Wallace said. “Without telling anyone, Dad sent a letter that was delivered to Bremer in prison, and it encouraged him to accept Jesus Christ as his savior so they could one day meet each other in Heaven. Bremer never replied, but it is one of the most remarkable acts of forgiveness that I have ever known to occur.”

According to a diary that Bremer kept, at age 20 he had been dating a 16-year-old girl who ended their relationship, so he decided to achieve fame and make history by assassinating President Richard Nixon.

He stalked Nixon at an economic summit in Canada and wrote the he was close enough to take a shot at least six times, but an abundant Secret Service presence prompted by protestors discouraged him.

As a result, Bremer turned his attention away from Nixon and decided he would kill Wallace, who was the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination after winning the Florida primary and carrying every county, instead.

Bremer shadowed Wallace on the campaign trail and finally seized his opportunity at the Laurel Shopping Center rally when Wallace removed his jacket at the end of his speech and plunged into the crowd of supporters to shake hands despite protests from his Secret Service detail.

Wallace assured his agents that he would take responsibility if anything happened, and minutes later, Bremer pulled out his .38 caliber revolver and fired five shots at point blank range.

One of the shots struck Wallace’s spinal cord and rendered him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. 

Also struck by Bremer were Secret Service agent Nick Zarvos, who had a bullet lodged in his vocal cord; Alabama State Trooper E.C. Dothard, who was grazed in the abdomen; and Wallace campaign volunteer Dora Thompson, who was shot in the leg when a round ricocheted off of the shopping center’s asphalt pavement.

Searching Bremer’s Wisconsin apartment after the shooting, FBI agents discovered a Confederate flag, boxes of .38 bullets, Black Panther literature, tax forms reporting his 1971 income as $ 1,611, a booklet entitled “101 Things To Do in Jail,” and handwritten notes that read  “My country tiz of thee, sweet land of bigotry” and “Happiness is hearing George Wallace sing the national anthem, or having him arrested for a hit-and-run accident.”

Robert DeNiro’s character in the motion picture “Taxi Driver,” Travis Bickle, was based upon Bremer and the diary he kept.  In one of history’s great ironies, Bremer inspired the character Travis Bickle, and the character of Travis Bickle later inspired John Hinkley to attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.