King, victim's mother seek action on art profits

MONTGOMERY --Attorney General Troy King and the mother of a murder victim Thursday applauded the House's passage of a bill this week that would stop criminals from profiting from the sale of their art and essays, and urged the Senate also to approve the measure.

"My daughter did not deserve this and neither do any of the victims who are being violated," said Mary Kate Gach, whose daughter was brutally murdered in the Birmingham area in 1992 by Jack Trawick.

Trawick and Daniel Siebert, both convicted of multiple murders and sitting on Death Row at Holman Correctional Facility in Escambia County, attracted national attention by posting art and writings online depicting or discussing their crimes. Some people purchased the art during online auctions.

"I miss my daughter every single day," said Gach, who thanked the media for allowing her to talk about her daughter. "I don't want to remember my daughter this way. I shouldn't have to defend my daughter 15 years later."

The House approved the bill 91-0 on Wednesday. It would require a prisoner or a third party to turn over any profits to the Alabama Board of Adjustments to repay any restitution that the prisoner still owed. Failure to do so would be a Class C Felony.

The bill would allow a county attorney or the attorney general to petition the court to order the defendant to forfeit the proceeds from sales.

Trawick brutally beat and stabbed Gach's daughter, Stephanie. He was convicted of the murder of another woman about the same time and confessed to others.

Siebert was convicted of strangling his hearing-impaired girlfriend and her two sons, ages 4 and 5, in 1986.

King said demented essays about the crimes and about how to commit rape and murder began to appear on the Web several years ago. King said art by serial killers recently started to be sold during online auctions.

"We set about trying to find ways to stop it," he said.

Gach first heard about the Web sites from a reporter in 2002. She said her family did not know how to respond, but hired a lawyer and filed suit against Trawick, the Web master of the site and officials with the Alabama Department of Corrections.

The Web site was then taken down, Gach said.

She said the family had four years of peace, although never closure. Similar Web sites, she said, reappeared in 2006.

"I did not read them, I never have," Gach said.

King and the bill's sponsor, Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said the bill seeks to take the profit from the art. Ward said he believes removing the potential for profit will slow down the practice and ease the suffering of victims' families.

In addition to any type of art, the bill also covers essays, memorabilia, items related to the prisoner or crime or any property that increases in value because of the criminal's notoriety or infamy.

Gach said the people who purchase the art are "evil."

"It does not speak too well for humanity," she said.

Several states passed notoriety or Son of Sam laws that were eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court because they were deemed too broad and overreaching -- violating the First Amendment rights of prisoners.

Son of Sam refers to serial killer David Berkowitz, who terrorized New York City during a murder spree in the late 1970s.

King and Ward said their proposal is more narrowly defined and does not stop the sale of art or other items, but would prohibit prisoners from collecting the profits.

State Rep. Marc Keahey, D-Grove Hill, introduced a bill that would have made it a crime to sell art or artistic expressions related to the artist's crime or victims. Keahey said after the vote Wednesday that he is supporting Ward's bill. Keahey's bill remains in the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, D-Cullman, is the Senate sponsor of the bill.

Despite fighting in the Senate, Ward encouraged his colleagues to act quickly and make victims a priority.

"We hope the Senate passes it and it becomes law this session," he said.

Very few bills have passed through the Senate during a slowdown by a minority coalition of Republicans and five Democrats over the operating rules, which they believe are unfair and will limit debate on budgets.