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ICYMI: New York Is Readying To Update The States Son Of Sam Laws

The "Son of Sam" law in New York, officially known as the "Crime Victims Compensation Law," was enacted in 1977 in response to the notorious case of David Berkowitz, also known as the "Son of Sam." Berkowitz was a serial killer who committed a series of murders in New York City during the mid-1970s.

The law was designed to prevent criminals from profiting financially from the notoriety of their crimes. It prohibited individuals convicted of crimes from earning money through the sale of their stories, books, or other forms of expression related to their criminal activities. The intent was to ensure that criminals could not profit from their crimes, and any proceeds would be used to compensate victims.


However, the law faced constitutional challenges regarding free speech rights, as it potentially restricted an individual's ability to express themselves through their writings or other forms of expression. Over the years, the law has undergone modifications and adjustments to address these legal concerns.


Now New York lawmakers are looking to update the law to include family members of convicted killers to the list of those who cannot profit from the crimes.

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to contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com



sources:

Gilgo Beach serial killer documentary sparks push for crackdown on Son of Sam law | The Independent (the-independent.com)

Duration:
13m
Broadcast on:
28 Jun 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

What's up everyone, and welcome back to the program. In this episode, we're gonna spin back over to Gilgo Beach, and we're gonna check in on what's going on with Rex Jourman, his wife Aza Ellarup, and the documentary that Peacock has recently optioned that's going to follow Aza Ellarup and the trial I guess of Rex Jourman. Well, now lawmakers and people in New York in general are not very happy about it. There's already a law in the books in New York called the son of Sam law, and now lawmakers are pushing to make sure that families of alleged or serial killers or just criminals in general can't make any money off of the pain and suffering of the victims of the killer. And this is all sparked by Aza Ellarup getting that $1 million option from Peacock. And while I used to have empathy for Aza Ellarup and the situation she found herself in, all of that empathy went out the window when she started to try to profit from the pain and suffering of these victims families. If anyone should be getting a bag, it should be the victims families, right? They should be the ones that profit if anyone's going to profit. And that's what the son of Sam law was originally intended to do. But this was a end around that Aza Ellarup and Rex Jourman and their legal teams tried to pull the old oaky doke on this son of Sam law by going about it the way they did. The divorce, all of that I suspect has nothing to do with the fact that Aza Ellarup actually wants to divorce this man. At this point, I think it's relatively obvious what went down here and what went down was them getting together conspiring to protect their assets. And after the families of the victims spoke out about her getting this money and this documentary getting made, it looks like some lawmakers have been paying attention. So let's dive into this article from the independent and let's see what's going on. Headline, Gilgo Beach serial killer documentary, sparks push for crackdown on son of Sam law. This article was authored by Andrea Cavallier. Lawmakers in New York are pushing to change a decades old stay law to ban family members of convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes. You would think that would be a no brainer, right? You got a father, an uncle, whatever, went on a killing spree. You shouldn't be able to profit from that. And any and all proceeds that come from a story like this should go directly to some kind of fund to be dispersed to the surviving family members of these victims. I certainly don't think that the wife of an alleged serial killer should be getting a million dollar bag to make a documentary. You want to talk about terrible optics? It comes amid outrage that a seller up the estranged wife of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Huerman is reportedly being paid $1 million for a peacock TV docu series. Miss Ella up who filed for divorce six days after Mr. Huerman's July arrest for the murders of three sex workers attended his most recent court appearance with a camera crew following her. As if this isn't going to be a big enough circus as it is, let's get a peacock documentary crew involved in the whole process and let's see how fucked up we can make it. And interestingly enough, there's no gag order here is there? There's a gag order in every single case that we're talking about night Oh, but no gag order here. That's odd considering that this case has garnered a lot of attention as well and wasn't that the predicate for them dropping the gag order on what's going on with Coburger. Oh, well, this case is garnering a lot of media attention blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I would think that the Long Island serial killer case, you know, the Gilgo Beach murders, I would think that that would be considered a pretty sensationalized case. So how come no gag order here, but a gag order for a major Alan Kaler and the gag order for Brian Coburger and the gag order for everybody else it seems like? The son of Sam law, which was named after David Berkowitz, a convicted serial killer who terrorized New York City in the 70s keeps convicts from making money off of their crimes. And that's a good law. No sick degenerate bastard should be profiting from their crimes. And neither should their families, at least not during the trial portion. After the verdict is rendered, if she wants to do a documentary, hey, have at it, but right now is not the time. We haven't even gotten to a point yet where we know what's what, but she's out here talking about Oh, yeah, let's do a documentary. Does she have no regard whatsoever for the victims families? Obviously not. So I don't know why I should have any regard for her. It's been a law in New York since 1977, but the US Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional in 1991. The law was then amended in 2001 with the revision that victims families will be notified by the office of victim services to ensure they can sue their offenders for any proceeds more than $10,000. The Long Island Press reported now New York State Senator Kevin Thomas and New York State Assembly member Fred Theo want to expand the law to also ban spouses, ex-bouses and other family members of convicted criminals from making profits. And again, look, I think this is a good idea. Maybe there should be some kind of like expiration date on it. If like family members of a serial killer want to do a documentary or something, they should obviously be able to do that. But at least a split of the proceeds should have to go to the surviving family members of the victims. That's only fair, right? Their story is being told too. So if anyone's profiting, they should get, at the very least, a portion of it. And there should be a cooldown period. Meaning you can't make the documentary while the trial is going on. You know, give it a year or something like that after the proceedings end or whatever it might be. A lot of people out there are much smarter than me making those decisions. But you certainly shouldn't be making a documentary in the middle of the trial hell before the trial even begins. Talk about a bad look. And furthermore, what sort of information is going to be garnered by that documentary that might be bad for Rex Eureman? That's another thing people aren't talking about. So if I was Rex Eureman, I wouldn't be too happy about my wife diving head first into a documentary with peacock. Because believe me when I tell you, the people shooting that documentary, they're not the friends of the Euremans. They have one goal and that goal is to get compelling content. And if that means exploit the family members of the victims. And if that means exploiting Aisa Elra per self, oh, you better believe that's what they're going to do. With the alarming reality of media companies exploiting tragedy for profit, my hope is that victims are given the opportunity to receive the justice and compensation that they deserve. Mr. Thomas told the Long Island Press. New York has a long history of blocking people convicted of a crime from benefiting from their illegal activity. My legislation aims to take it a step further to ensure that media deals surrounding a crime are subject to the same transparency and accountability as a perpetrator themselves. No one should be profiting off a crime. However, Miss Elra's attorney argued that the bill was a publicity stunt. Even what's wild is we haven't heard one single thing from Aisa Elra up about the victims, right? She's not out of here talking about, Oh, well, I hope that everyone's family's okay. Blah, blah, blah. It's all about me, me, me, me, me, me, me. It's a sad day in America when people are willing to trample on the constitution to get press coverage. Bob Macedonia said the next thing they will attempt is to control media coverage. Oh, yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what's going to happen. And I take everything that these lawyers have to say with a grain of salt considering how much they're on the line to profit when it comes to these documentaries as well. We saw the numbers, they're eye popping. We have lawyers making, you know, 400 grand or whatever, 200 grand. I don't know the exact numbers, but they're eye watering. So of course, the lawyers are going to be on board with this documentary being made. If they're securing a bag, forget it. Better call Saul, right? The proposed legislation is expected to come up for early debate in 2024. If passed, the bill would take effect immediately. It's a move applauded by attorney John Ray, who represents victims families. Ella up is a ghoul and she's feeding on the dead by using their memory and their circumstances that her husband caused and she may have had a part in, he said. And he's been very adamant that Asa Ella up played a role in these murders. Now, to be clear, the authorities have been said anything along those lines, at least not yet, but I'll tell you, the more we learn about Asa Ella up, the more questions that I have. A peacock spokesperson told CBS New York that Miss Ella up was not paid for her participation but was paid a licensing fee for use of her archive materials, which cannot go to Mr. Huerman or his defense. Oh yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure everything's just buttoned up. Everything is above board. I mean, come on peacock, you couldn't wait until the child ended before you dove in with both feet to try and make a bag here. Mr. Huerman is accused of murdering Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Bartholomew, and Meghan Waterman, whose remains were found at Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York, between 2010 and 2011. He is pleaded not guilty. He has also been named as the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainerd Barnes, who was last seen alive in June of 2007 in New York City. He is due back in court on February 6. Before victims, together known as the Gilgo 4, all worked as sex workers and disappeared after going to meet a client. Their bodies were found in December of 2010, within a quarter mile of each other, bound up by belts or tape, and some wrapped in burlap, all dumped along Gilgo Beach. In total, the remains of 11 victims were found along the shores of Long Island in 2010 and 2011, sparking fears of one or more serial killers. The case began back in 2010 when Shannon Gilbert, a young woman working as a sex worker, vanished after leaving a client's house on foot near Gilgo Beach. She called 911 for help, saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again. And of course, John Ray, he says that Shannon Gilbert was a victim of the Long Island serial killer. I have my doubts about that, but Mr. Ray has been very adamant that Shannon Gilbert was killed. During a search for Gilbert, in a dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered human remains. Within days, four victims had been found. By spring 2011, the number of victims had rose to 10. Gilbert's body was found in December of 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested, with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers, but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client's home. However, an independent autopsy, commissioned by the family, ruled that she died by strangulation and her family continues to believe she was murdered. No charges have been brought in connection to the other victims also found along the shore. Court record show that Mr. Huerman was linked to the Gilgo Four murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, sadistic, online searches, and phone calls taunting victims' families. Think about what sort of madman you have to be to call someone's family after you murdered them. You want to talk about next level depraved? This dude is on the first helicopter flight over that volcano in Iceland if I was in charge. His DNA was also found on one of the victims, while his wife's hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to, according to prosecutors. Investigators are continuing to work to determine if Mr. Huerman is also linked to any of the other victims, while law enforcement officials across the country are probing cold case murders for any potential ties. And that is ongoing here in Las Vegas, certainly it's ongoing, according to my source, they're still looking at all of the evidence, still looking at all of the possible connections. And hopefully when their investigations complete, we'll have a little bit more to go on. We also know that they're taking a look at Rex Huerman down in South Carolina. So my opinion, this story is far from over. And I have a sneaking suspicion that when all is said and done, many, many more bodies are going to be tied to Rex Huerman, one thing that I do know for sure. And that is that Rex Huerman or his wife shouldn't be profiting from any of this. Alright folks, that's going to do it for this one. All of the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.