Court Hears Attack on ‘Son of Sam’ Law

In a case involving an infamous, 35-year-old kidnapping, a Hollywood movie deal, and the thorny issues of crime, punishment and profit, the 1986 “Son of Sam” law came under attack Wednesday in the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.

Real estate developer Barry Keenan, the ringleader of the 1963 abduction of Frank Sinatra Jr., asked the court’s 2nd District judges to strike down the state law intended to keep criminals from profiting from their crimes through lucrative book and movie deals. He says the law violates his free speech and other constitutional guarantees.

Keenan, who spent nearly five years in federal prison, believes that he long ago paid his debt to society. The statute, known as the California Victims Rights Law, was enacted 23 years after the kidnapping. As a result, Keenan claims, it unfairly punishes him again, long after the fact.

“They are attempting to punish Mr. Keenan retroactively with a greater punishment than existed at the time of the crime,” said his attorney, Stephen F. Rohde.

But as far as Sinatra and his lawyer, Richard B. Spector, are concerned, a payment to Keenan under a true-crime movie deal is tantamount to a second ransom.

The three justices--Miriam A. Vogel, Rueben A. Ortega and William A. Masterson--seemed skeptical as they heard arguments from Rohde. Vogel said they would rule within 90 days.

Closely watched by entertainment lawyers and true-crime film producers, the case marks California’s first real courtroom challenge to the “Son of Sam” law.

Responding to news last year of Columbia Pictures’ plans for a movie project based on Keenan’s story, Sinatra filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court in July. The Sinatra suit asked the court to turn Keenan’s share of the $1.5-million movie rights package over to him or to a state trust fund to compensate crime victims.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg, himself a veteran of several high-profile trials, granted Sinatra’s request. Keenan appealed to the higher court.

It is but the latest legal development in a bizarre caper that resulted in a courtroom circus three decades ago. Sinatra, then 19, was eating a pre-performance chicken dinner with his trumpet player when Keenan and an accomplice abducted him at gunpoint from his room at a Lake Tahoe casino hotel. His kidnappers kept Sinatra at a hide-out on Mason Avenue in Canoga Park for four days before his famous father paid the $240,000 ransom.

The brother of one of Keenan’s kidnapping cohorts alerted the FBI, and the abductors were arrested, tried and convicted. In their defense, they claimed--falsely, Keenan now says--that the Sinatras participated in the abduction plot, which the defense said was a hoax and publicity stunt.

Keenan, who went to high school with Nancy Sinatra, the victim’s sister, received a life sentence--later reduced--for his role in the plot.

Now, Keenan says in court papers, he should be able to sell his story. He claims that he merely wants to set the record straight and that any proceeds will go to charity.

His lawyer, Rohde, cited New York’s original 1977 Son of Sam law, named after a moniker of serial killer David Berkowitz, as evidence that the California version of the law is unconstitutional.

In a case involving mob figure Henry Hill, the book “Wiseguys” and the movie “Goodfellas,” the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New York’s law because it covered people accused of crimes, as well as convicted felons. Berkowitz was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and therefore never was convicted.

The court found New York’s law overbroad, and Rohde argued that the California law suffered the same flaws.

Justice Vogel pointed out that the California law, last amended in 1995, was more precise than New York’s law and applied only to convicted felons who seek to profit directly from the crimes they commit.

Vogel several times contradicted Rohde’s legal conclusions, once flatly telling him, “You’re wrong.” Later, Rohde said he was unconcerned, suggesting that the justice was playing devil’s advocate.

The lawyer also cited a case involving author Joe McGinnis’ book, “Fatal Vision.” In that case, convicted murderer Jeffrey McDonald was able to receive payment for his story rights because the federal Son of Sam law was enacted after McDonald killed his wife and daughters.

Sinatra’s lawyer, Spector, told the justices that California’s law “clearly is constitutional.” He portrayed the case as a clash between criminals’ and victims’ rights.