Posted on 06/22/2002 7:52:26 AM PDT by CounterCounterCulture
By Don Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 21, 2002
SACRAMENTO - The Senate yesterday approved a new version of the "Son of Sam" law struck down by the state Supreme Court in February, sending it to the Assembly.
The bill attempts to sidestep the high court's ruling that California's previous ban on felons' profiting from their criminal actions with books or movies is a violation of their free speech rights. Those profits would have gone to the victims instead, under the 1983 law.
The new legislation allows victims to sue criminals for monetary damages long after the crime. It extends the statute of limitations for such suits from the current one year after the criminal act, to 10 years after the perpetrator is freed from prison and completes parole.
For instance, families of nine Los Angeles-area victims of the Charles Manson cult's 1969 slaying spree would still be able to sue for any money Manson or others still imprisoned make as a result of their renown for those crimes.
"Criminals have a right to free speech like anyone else. They don't have a right to profit at the expense of their victims," said the bill's author, Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz.
The Senate's unanimous approval means the bill has the two-thirds majority it needs to become law within months, if the Assembly approves it and if Gov. Gray Davis signs the measure as promised. Without the extraordinary majority, the measure couldn't take effect until January.
An estimated 40 states have so-called Son of Sam laws, named after the first such law was passed in New York after "Son of Sam" serial killer David Berkowitz was offered a substantial sum for his story. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that law in 1991.
The California ruling involved the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. from Harrah's Casino at Lake Tahoe in 1963. The then 19-year-old son of famed singer Frank Sinatra was released unharmed after a $240,000 ransom was paid.
The law was challenged by Barry Keenan, the leader of three kidnappers, who in 1998 sold the movie rights to Columbia Pictures.
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