Son of Sam
...t two bystanders filed. They were injured in the 1999 shooting of a Manhattan night club. In March of this year a ruling stating the funds should “be preserved for payment of any judgement received by the plaintiffs.”(USA Today 2005) The high profile case of Scott Peterson has prompted civil lawsuits. Before Scott was convicted and sentenced to the death for the murder of his wife and unborn son Scott’s mother-in-law Sharon Rocha filed suit under the “Son of Sam” law and Judge Beauchesne said no to that request. The judge did issue a “tentative” ruling to be reconsidered in one hundred and twenty days, if Rocha’s attorneys come up with something new. On May 9, 2004, a story aired on 60 Minutes called “I Couldn’t Keep It To Myself.” Female inmates at the York Correctional Institution in Nianic, Connecticut took part in a writing class under the tutelage of author Wally Lamb. The majority of the women programs were being cut due to the budget. Lamb volunteered to tutor the inmates for free. He encouraged the women to write about anything. The talents of the inmates improved to the point Lamb took some of the writings to his editor Judith Reagan. She read the stories and was impressed to the point of wanting to put them into a book. Harper Collins is the publishing company that Lamb wrote books for bought the book for seventy five-thousand dollars. The state of Connecticut sued the women for the cost of housing them which was one hundred seventy-five dollars a day. One inmate received a bill for nine hundred thirteen thousand dollars. Lamb was very upset about the lawsuit. He tried to get the state to drop the lawsuit because this was one of the few rehabilitation programs offered to the women at the prison. He didn’t get anywhere with prison officials and decided to call PEN. It is an organization dedicated to helping persecuted writers around the world. They suggested he nominate one of the inmates for a major award. Lamb wanting to nominate the group found he could only nominate one. At a gala in New York Pen awarded the inmate with a twenty-five thousand-dollar prize. The prison stopped the writing program and confiscated all the computers and removed anything that had to do with the writing program. Lamb was upset and sent the memorandum of the closure to PEN. They contacted 60 Minutes and forwarded all the information Lamb sent to them. 60 Minutes launched an investigation into what was going on in the prison. The commissioner for the Department of Corrections stated it had been a miss understanding. The department had not ordered those actions to take place and would see they got corrected. The prison stated it was a surprise and they don’t like surprises it can mean trouble. The matter was settled and the women finally got their writing program back. The correctional department settled for five hundred dollars instead of the large sums they had originally imposed. (60 minutes May 9, 2004) Scott Peterson was brought up on charges of murder for the death of his wife Laci and their unborn child Connor. Mrs. Rocha filled this suit because the “Son of Sam” law is still being debated in California on its merit of Constitutionality according to the First Amendment. His mother-in-law Sharon Rocha was afraid that Scott would sell the rights to the story. On December 3, 2003, Mrs. Rocha filed a civil lawsuit to stop him or any agent acting for him to sell the story. Judge Beauchesne heard the suit and his ruling was a “tentative” ruling. With a “tentative” ruling the Judge can with hold his judgement until a later time. The judge wants to wait till the out come of the trial. They asked that any money that Scott has or would get go into a escrow account until the trials end. (CNN.com 2004) Mrs. Rocha raised the amount of the suit to twenty five-million dollars in an attempt to prevent Scott from gaining any money from his crime. The assets a criminal has after they are convicted can be sold to help pay attorney fees and other trial related bills. Mrs. Rocha in filling her suit before the trial was over stopped Scott’s attorneys from being paid. They money will stay in the escrow account until the civil trail comes to an end. The out come of the civil trial is still pending. Many civil law suits like this one are filled each year especially in high profile cases to prevent criminal and their agents from profiting. (KUTV.com) In a Nevada case the “Son of Sam” law was struck down by the District Judge Brent Adams. Jimmy Lerner was convicted of manslaughter in 1998 for the death of Mark Slavin. While serving his sentence, he wrote a book. The book was on his imprisonment and the killing of Mark Slavin. The book became a best seller having rave reviews. The district attorney for Washoe County Nevada helped Mark’s sister Donna Seres file suit on behalf of their mother. It was sent to Nevada’s Supreme Court where they found “the law to be overly restrictive and upheld a previous decision by Judge Adams.” “Although the measure addresses compelling state interests in compensating victims and prevention of criminal profiteering, it suffers from overinclusiveness because it regulate more speech than is necessary to serve the state’s interest,” the court said. (First Amendment Center 2004) In Florida the “Son of Sam” law is be...