Sinatra’s Kidnapper Loses Bid to Sell Story

Crime still doesn’t pay in California.

The state’s “Son of Sam” law, which prevents convicted felons from making money from book and movie deals about the crimes they commit, survived its first court challenge Thursday.

The 2nd District of the state Court of Appeal upheld a lower court injunction blocking Columbia Pictures from paying Barry Keenan for the rights to the story of how he masterminded the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.

The ruling, written by Justice Miriam A. Vogel, came just a day after lawyers for Keenan and Sinatra argued before a three-justice panel of the court. The decision was not only swift, it was unanimous--with Justices Reuben A. Ortega and William A. Masterson concurring.

Sinatra could not be reached for comment. He was 19 when he was abducted at gunpoint from Harrah’s Casino at Lake Tahoe and held for four days at a hide-out in the San Fernando Valley. He was released unharmed after his father paid a $240,000 ransom. Keenan and accomplices Joseph Amsler and John Irwin were quickly captured and convicted.

“If you accept the argument that this is nothing more than a second crack at cashing in, so far Keenan is 0-2 on ransoms,” said Sinatra’s lawyer, Richard B. Specter.

Keenan’s lawyer, Stephen F. Rohde, vowed to appeal to the state Supreme Court. “We are very serious about challenging the ‘Son of Sam’ law,” he said.

Rohde had argued Wednesday that the law was unconstitutional because it violated Keenan’s right to free speech and punished him twice for a crime committed 23 years before the law went into effect.

But the justices found that the 1986 law passed constitutional muster “because it was enacted to accomplish a legitimate governmental purpose”: compensating crime victims.

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

Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg granted Sinatra’s request, and Keenan appealed.

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

Now, Keenan says in court papers, he wants to set the record straight and that any proceeds will go to charity.

New York’s original 1977 “Son of Sam” law, named after a moniker used by serial killer David Berkowitz, was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991. In a case involving mob figure Henry Hill, the book “Wiseguy” and the movie “Goodfellas,” the U.S. Supreme Court found New York’s law overly broad because it applied to people accused of crimes, as well as convicted felons.

Vogel pointed out in her 15-page opinion that the California law, last amended in 1995, was more precise than New York’s, affecting only convicted felons who seek to profit from the crimes they commit.