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expenses for a lengthy trial in federal court, plus the posting of a bond in case they lost and appealed, would have cost much more than the settlement. Under this settlement, Paladin's insurance policy paid several million dollars to the families of those killed by the murderer, while also agreeing to destroy the remaining 700 copies of the book in their possession and surrendering any rights they had to publish and reproduce the work. Jon Ford, Paladin's editorial director, called the settlement "economic censorship."
195:, claimed that Paladin Press had a share of responsibility in the murders by virtue of their publication of a book that, by Paladin's own admission, could be used by criminals and would-be criminals in the solicitation, planning, and commission of murder for hire. In November 1997, a U.S. appeals court ruled 3–0 that
214:. The lawsuit was a result of the 1998 attempted murder of Bobby Joe Wilson by her ex-husband, Robert Leslie Goggin, who allegedly hired Robert Jones to kill her in order to get money from her life insurance policy. In court, Jones testified that Goggin recruited him to kill Wilson. Jones said he then purchased
155:, fulfilling contracts. However, after a number of lawsuits claiming that the book was used as a handbook in several murders, the publication of the book was stopped. It marked "the first time in American publishing history that a publisher has been held liable for a crime committed by a reader."
206:
On May 21, 1999, Paladin Press' insurance company agreed to settle the case out-of-court, against the wishes of
Paladin Press themselves, who were confident that they would prevail in court on First Amendment grounds; however, Paladin's insurance company balked at going to court again, figuring
171:
reported that the author was really a divorced mother-of-two who simply fabricated much of the material based on mystery novels and movies. The book goes on at length about studying "the mark", learning the mark's movements and routine, and silently moving in for the profitable kill, and offers
147:, that the book started life as a detailed crime novel written by a Florida housewife, and that the format was later changed to appeal to Paladin's reader base accustomed to the publisher's non-fiction books on military, survivalist, weapons and similar topics. The book portrays itself as a
333:] and the son's nurse. By proving that the hired killer followed 22 of the 26 steps shown in Paladin's book, they're able to bring home the point that freedom of speech laws should not protect material that is produced for the purpose of aiding and abetting murder.
40:
234:. Paladin Press claims that the rights are still held by the author. It can also be purchased used from independent sellers, and is available as an e-book. It is believed that 13,000 copies were sold, although
1009:
218:. In her lawsuit, Wilson outlined two dozen points of advice from the book that Jones followed to the letter in planning to kill her. The suit was eventually settled out of court in 2002.
184:, by a man who used the book as his guide. James Perry, who had been imprisoned for a violent crime, was caught, convicted, and sentenced three times to death. He had been hired by
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327:
The legal team then proceeds to tie the book to the case of a Motown recording engineer (McDaniel) who gets a hitman to murder his ex-wife, their paraplegic daughter [
264:
described his involvement in the notorious "Hit Man" case, where Smolla successfully represented the families of three murder victims in the court case against
Paladin Press.
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After the legal cases, Paladin no longer published the book, and allowed the remaining undestroyed circulating copies to sell out. Copies exist on the
Internet (notably
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The book was also cited as a source of information in a similar crime committed by Robert Vaughn Jones in 1999. In 2000, Paladin Press was sued again as a result of
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The families of
Mildred Horn, her son Trevor, and his nurse Janice Saunders sued, claiming Paladin Press "aided and abetted" the murder. The suit,
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188:, who sought to receive the proceeds of a trust fund that resulted from his ex-wife's suing a hospital over injuries to their son.
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and thus
Paladin Enterprises could be held liable for a triple murder committed by one of its readers.
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The book is written as if by an actual experienced assassin, as a how-to manual on
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Deliberate intent : a lawyer tells the true story of murder by the book
609:"The Murder of the First Amendment? The Strange Fate of The Hit Man Lawsuit"
312:
134:
664:"Paladin Press, Firearms, Self-Defense, Sniping, Survival, Books and DVDs"
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was aired in the U.S. based directly on the book and the case. It starred
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Hit Man: A Technical Manual for
Independent Contractors - Kindle Edition
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230:), often accompanied by the spurious claim that the book is now in the
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Deliberate Intent: a lawyer tells the true story of murder by the book
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in 1983. Paladin Press owner Peder Lund claimed, in an interview with
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689:"U.S. Copyright Office - Copyright Catalog: Books, Music, etc"
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was not protected by the free speech/free press clause of the
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estimates there are 20,000 copies of the book in existence.
33:
Hit Man: A Technical Manual for
Independent Contractors
954:
Hit Man: A Technical Manual for
Independent Contractors
130:
Hit Man: A Technical Manual for
Independent Contractors
378:"Paladin Press Pays Millions to Settle 'Hit Man' Case"
323:. In the drama, which clearly parallels the Horn case,
640:. Associated Press. February 27, 2007. Archived from
525:"Case 94: Millie & Trevor Horn, Janice Saunders"
180:On March 3, 1993, a triple murder was committed in
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307:. Peder Lund, Paladin Press' owner, was played by
1010:First Amendment to the United States Constitution
709:: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
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691:. Archived from the original on March 28, 2007
922:"Murder by the book: Free speech takes a hit"
8:
634:"'Hit Man' publisher settles Oregon lawsuit"
32:
172:advice on weapon selection and techniques.
31:
870:Kopel, David B. (August–September 1999).
434:Kopel, David B. (August–September 1999).
990:Non-fiction books about contract killers
577:"RICE v PALADIN ENTERPRISES, No. 962412"
429:
427:
897:"63. Dirty, Dangerous and Banned Books"
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742:
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252:, was released by lawyer, author, and
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557:. Society of Professional Journalists
551:"'Hitman' decision a landmark battle"
7:
519:
517:
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315:, produced by Howard Braunstein and
872:"The Day They Came to Sue the Book"
766:. New York City: Crown Publishers.
436:"The Day They Came to Sue the Book"
405:Montgomery, David (July 26, 1998).
895:Stim, Richard (October 20, 2007).
492:"Horn Convicted for Three Murders"
27:1983 non-fiction book by Rex Feral
25:
1005:Works published under a pseudonym
151:manual on starting a career as a
920:McMasters, Paul (May 24, 1999).
38:
790:Zahed, Ramin (August 2, 2000).
1:
842:"Deliberate Intent (TV 2000)"
776:– via Internet Archive.
529:Casefile: True Crime Podcast
133:is a book written under the
182:Montgomery County, Maryland
137:Rex Feral and published by
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995:Works subject to a lawsuit
817:"Deliberate Intent (2000)"
760:Smolla, Rodney A. (1999).
490:Vick, Karl (May 4, 1996).
193:Rice v Paladin Enterprises
352:The Poor Man's James Bond
37:
248:In 1999, a book titled
167:; however, in 1998 the
985:1983 non-fiction books
926:First Amendment Center
345:The Anarchist Cookbook
335:
1000:Handbooks and manuals
932:on September 27, 2007
407:"If Books Could Kill"
325:
311:. It was directed by
275:Cable Network titled
267:On August 6, 2000, a
882:on February 15, 2006
293:Penny Johnson Jerald
952:Feral, Rex (1983).
792:"Deliberate Intent"
644:on October 27, 2009
585:. November 10, 1997
531:. September 1, 2018
497:The Washington Post
411:The Washington Post
34:
607:McGrady, Vanessa.
471:on August 11, 2014
50:Rex Feral (pseud.)
907:on August 4, 2021
459:"Hit Man On-Line"
383:Publishers Weekly
277:Deliberate Intent
262:Deliberate Intent
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91:Publication place
18:Deliberate Intent
16:(Redirected from
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934:. Retrieved
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159:Description
74:Non-fiction
979:Categories
967:0873642767
613:Loompanics
364:References
285:Ron Rifkin
258:Rod Smolla
144:60 Minutes
745:ignored (
735:cite book
695:March 28,
561:March 24,
313:Andy Wolk
256:scholar,
222:Aftermath
135:pseudonym
79:Published
705:cite web
555:SPJ News
338:See also
176:Lawsuits
55:Language
796:Variety
673:July 1,
357:Hit Man
216:Hit Man
212:Hit Man
197:Hit Man
153:hit man
63:Subject
58:English
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589:May 2,
303:, and
149:how-to
82:1983 (
66:How-to
47:Author
469:(PDF)
462:(PDF)
244:Media
107:Pages
102:Print
71:Genre
962:ISBN
938:2006
913:2010
901:Nolo
888:2006
853:2012
846:IMDb
828:2018
803:2018
768:ISBN
747:help
711:link
697:2007
675:2015
650:2006
591:2020
563:2007
537:2018
506:2006
477:2017
418:2014
392:2018
116:ISBN
330:sic
228:IRC
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
