Runaway Bride Makes Crime Pay - (Jennifer Wilbanks seals $500,000 book deal; pays Duluth, GA.$13K)

How could any of us forget the fleeing fiancée, considering the wall-to-wall media coverage we had to endure.

Well, now after pleading no contest to faking her own kidnapping, Wilbanks has been sentenced to probation and community service. She's also been fined $2,550 and is repaying the city of Duluth, Georgia, $13,250 towards the $40,000 search tab.

Oh, yeah, did I mention that she's just snagged a book and TV deal for a reported half-million dollars?

That's right. According to the New York Post, Judith Regan, head of ReganMedia, wanted to keep the alleged $500,000 enticement with the wide-eyed Wilbanks hush-hush.

The reason for the secrecy apparently had to do with NBC News' policy against paying for interviews; in other words, it purportedly looks down its nose at "checkbook journalism."

Although NBC claims it hasn't paid Wilbanks or Regan for an interview, reports and sources are linking the Katie Couric-Wilbanks heart-to-heart with the $500,000 package.

Howard Kurtz reported in the Washington Post that Regan purchased the rights to Wilbanks' life story "after offering them $500,000 for a package that - in an unusual twist - included the first news interview with the couple."

Two sources familiar with the negotiations indicated that an exclusive interview with Couric was part of the discussion with ReganMedia.

NBC News' Allison Gollust said that NBC News never pays for interviews. "This was a 'get' by Katie," Gollust declared.

Regan happens to be tight with NBC, particularly with Couric's producer David Corvo. Regan has also obtained NBC access for some of her other authors including prosecution witness for the Scott Peterson trial Amber Frey.

It seems we now live in a culture where people are being rewarded for engaging in all sorts of criminal activity.

The Left Coast Report says, Guess that explains why there are so many book deals in D.C.

This is one of those classic stories that has been so dumbed down by the media that it loses all value. What are the particulars of the "$500,000 book deal"? I'm not in the publishing industry but I know that many book contracts are an advance against royalties - and in this case it may be a contingent contract that says - we cover your expenses for coming to NYC and doing the Couric interview and we advance you $25,000 against a royalty rate of $X per hardcover and $Y per soft cover sold during the first N press runs (if any) of this proposed title.

The key is that it is contingent - it assumes she will write a book. I have no expectation than she can write a book, even with help. I also think that so much of this is in the public domain already - the portion that isn't is not going to be sufficiently interesting to drive a best-seller. Or any seller for that matter.

I'm betting that the significance of this is she get some cash now, lots of additional publicity and the book quietly never happens.

Georgia's Son of Sam Law
Georgia Code 17-14-31.
(a)(1) Every person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or other legal entity contracting with any person or with the representative or assignee of any person who has been accused or convicted of a crime in this state with respect to the reenactment of the crime by way of a movie, book, magazine article, tape recording, phonograph record, radio or television presentation, or live entertainment of any kind or with respect to the expression of the accused or convicted person´s thoughts, feelings, opinions, or emotions regarding the crime shall submit a copy of the contract to the board and shall pay over to the board any moneys which would otherwise, by the terms of the contract, be owing to the accused or convicted person or to his representatives.
(2) The board shall deposit such moneys in an escrow account for the benefit of and payable to any victim or the legal representative of any victim of crimes committed by the accused or convicted person.
(3) Payments may be made pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection only if the accused person is eventually convicted or enters a plea of guilty of the crime and if the victim, within five years of the date of the establishment of the escrow account, brings a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction and recovers a money judgment for damages against the convicted or accused person or his representatives.
(4) It shall be the duty of the victim, the victim´s attorney, or the victim´s representative to notify the board within 30 days of the filing of any claim under this article.
(b) At least once every six months for five years from the date it receives such moneys, the board shall cause to have published a legal notice in newspapers of general circulation in the county in which the crime was committed and in counties contiguous to such county, advising victims of the crime that escrow moneys are available to satisfy money judgments pursuant to this Code section.
(c) Upon dismissal of charges or acquittal of any accused person, the board shall immediately pay over to the accused person the moneys in the escrow account established on behalf of the accused person.
(d) Upon a showing by any convicted person that five years have elapsed from the establishment of the escrow account and that no actions are pending against the convicted person pursuant to this Code section, the board shall immediately pay over any moneys in the escrow account to the person or his legal representatives.
(e) Whenever it is found that a person accused of a crime is unfit to proceed to trial as a result of insanity because the person lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense, the board shall bring an action of interpleader to determine the disposition of the escrow account.
(f) Any excess which remains in the escrow account or is deposited into the account after all money judgments have been satisfied shall be paid over into the state treasury as compensation for the establishment, administration, and execution of this article.
(g) The board shall make payments from the escrow account to any person accused or convicted of crime, upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, after a showing by the person that the moneys shall be used for the exclusive purpose of retaining legal representation at any stage of the proceedings against the person, including the appeals process.
(h) The board shall disburse payments from the escrow account on a pro rata basis of all claims filed, according to the amount of money in the escrow account as compared to the amount of each claim. The sums are not to be disbursed until all pending claims have been settled or reduced to judgment.
(i) Any action taken by a person who is accused or convicted of a crime or who enters a plea of guilty, whether by way of execution of a power of attorney, creation of corporate entities, or otherwise, to defeat the purpose of this Code section shall be null and void as against the public policy of this state.

Seems to me the criminal justice entities, media, and her beau's parents, who were defrauded by her actions, could claim against her based on this law.

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