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Story Rights and 'Son of Sam Laws'
There are always high-profile criminal cases in the news. O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman and Jodi Arias have all captured the attention of the national media and the public. As these cases develop, we often learn that the accused has received offers from publishers, television networks and movie studios to tell his or her story for a large sum of money. Can these individuals keep the money, potentially profiting from the alleged crime? “Son of Sam” laws may lead one to believe the answer is “no.” But, in fact, it depends.
Between July 1976 and August 1977, David Berkowitz terrorized New York City, killing six people and injuring others. Berkowitz called himself the “Son of Sam,” explaining that the black Labrador retriever owned by his neighbor, Sam Carr, told him to commit the killings. Once captured, Berkowitz received numerous offers to have his story published. In an effort to thwart criminals' attempts to profit from their crimes, New York State passed the first “Son of Sam” law (N.Y.Exec. Law '632-a), authorizing the state crime board to seize any money earned from entertainment deals to compensate the victims.
But in 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the New York code in Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board, 502 U.S. 105, concluding that the content-based statute was a free-speech violation because it was “significantly over inclusive.” Moreover, the broad definition of “person convicted of a crime” would include anyone who admitted to committing a crime, regardless of whether there was an accusation or conviction. As a result, New York amended its law. Interestingly, the law named after him was never applied to David Berkowitz, who was deemed incompetent to stand trial. Berkowitz voluntarily paid his book royalties to the crime board.
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