Serial Killer Uses 'own Law' to Block Book and Film Deals

The serial killer known as the Son of Sam, whose murder spree brought terror to 1970s New York, is suing his former lawyer under the very law that was introduced to stop him from profiting from his crimes.

New York and many other US states introduced "Son of Sam" laws in response to rumours that David Berkowitz was being offered vast sums of money to write a book describing how he killed six people and wounded seven others.

Berkowitz gave himself the soubriquet "Son of Sam" in a letter left near the bodies of two victims, in which he claimed he had been told to commit the murders by a dog belonging to his neighbour, Sam Carr.

Now Berkowitz is suing Hugo Harmatz, a New Jersey attorney who became his adviser in 2002, arguing that a book by the lawyer violates the spirit of the law and that the proceeds should be used to compensate Berkowitz's victims and bereaved families. The case was due in court in Manhattan yesterday to set a trial date.

Mr Harmatz's book, Dear David, shows the lawyer with his arm round the killer, and consists largely of letters written to Berkowitz by members of the public, some friendly in tone and addressing him as "Dearest David" or "Pastor David" - a reference to the Christian rebirth he said he underwent in 1987.

Berkowitz says he gave Mr Harmatz the letters, along with other personal items including family photographs, for safekeeping, not for publication. "He has turned his life around and is very much concerned about the wellbeing of his victims," his current lawyer, Michael Heller, told reporters.

The Son of Sam laws have been repeatedly questioned on the grounds that they might violate the First Amendment, which protects free speech, and in 1991 the US supreme court struck down New York's version of the statute, forcing the state to rewrite it.

"The court recognised that sometimes the circumstances are unappealing, but when the scope of such a prohibition reaches Gandhi or Martin Luther King, a strong policy of deference to victims and their families must yield," Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Centre for Free Expression in Virginia said.

Berkowitz is serving six life sentences for his crimes committed in 1976 and 1977.