Re: 1st Ammendment Tossed in Paladin Case

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 9:42 AM -0700 11/11/97, Eric Cordian wrote:
>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Ruling that the right to a free press doesn't
>cover a how-to-kill book, a federal appeals panel said the families
>of a hired killer's victims may sue the publisher of a book that he
>consulted.
>
>A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied
>First Amendment protection to ``Hit Man: A Technical Manual for
>Independent Contractors,'' saying publisher Paladin Press knew it
>would be used by murderers.
>
>``The Supreme Court has never protected as abstract advocacy speech so
>explicit in its palpable entreaties to violent crime,'' the panel
>said in its ruling Monday.
>
>The book was sold to James Edward Perry, who was convicted of killing
>Mildred Horn; her disabled 8-year-old son, Trevor; and the son's
>nurse, Janice Saunders, in Silver Spring, Md., in 1993. The women were
>shot between the eyes and the boy's respirator was unplugged.

Having skimmed the "Hit Man" book, I can tell you it conveyed no unique
information about how to shoot someone between the eyes and unplug a
respirator.

If this Paladin case is not overturned, it will mean the "death through
lawsuits" of nearly all publishers of even slightly controversial material.
Loompanics will go, Delta Press will go, etc. "Unintended Consequences"
will be withdrawn by the publisher and the author will be sued. "The Turner
Diaries" will become a contraband item.

And why not sue other publishers and bookstores? Maybe a book on abortions
helped a woman perform an illegal abortion. Maybe a book about fighting for
liberty provided "abstract advocacy speech so explicit in its palpable
entreaties to violent crime" (and so it is unprotected, according to the
courts).

But in many ways, this is good news. The war is coming faster than I thought.

The judge in this case has committed a capital crime.

--Tim May



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