NATION : Mercenary Murder Award Upset
A federal appeals court today overturned a jury’s $9.4-million award to relatives of a woman murdered by a mercenary hired through an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said that holding the magazine responsible for the slaying of Sandra Black in 1985 would impose too great a burden on publishers to screen ambiguously worded advertisements.
Although the magazine said the judgment against it had violated its First Amendment right to freedom of the press, the court did not address First Amendment arguments, basing its ruling instead on Texas liability law.
Black’s husband, Robert, was convicted of hiring John Wayne Hearn, through an ad Hearn had placed, to kill her. Robert Black is on Death Row in Texas, and Hearn is in Florida serving three life sentences for the Black killing and two other murders.
Soldier of Fortune’s lawyers argued that there was no way its publishers could have known that Hearn’s ad offering an ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran’s services for “high-risk assignments” was a solicitation for murder.
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