Magazine ‘Negligent’ in Murder

A federal court jury today found Soldier of Fortune magazine negligent in publishing a classified ad that led to the slaying of a Texas woman, and ordered the magazine to pay $9.4 million to the woman’s family.

The jury ordered that $1.5 million be paid to the woman’s son, and awarded $400,000 to her mother. The two received $7.5 million in punitive damages. The case stemmed from the 1985 slaying of Sandra Black. Black’s husband, Robert, is on Texas’ Death Row for paying John Wayne Hearn $10,000 to kill her. Black contacted Hearn through a personal services classified ad Hearn placed in Soldier of Fortune in late 1984. Hearn is serving three life terms in Florida for the Black slaying and two others in that state.