Oregon woman claims would-be killer used 'instruction' book

By The Associated Press

09.11.00

Printer-friendly page

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — When the man who tried to kill Bobby Jo Wilson bought new shoes and latex gloves, he didn't come up with the idea on his own, according to a lawsuit she has filed.

Wilson is suing Paladin Press of Boulder, Colo., saying the company published a book — Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors — that the hired killer used as a guide for the attack two years ago.

Wilson seeks at least $4.5 million in damages from Paladin Press, which also publishes such titles as The Anarchist Cookbook, Be Your Own Undertaker: How to Dispose of a Dead Body and Silencers for Hand Firearms.

Wilson's federal lawsuit is similar to one in Maryland that triggered national concerns about free-speech rights of publishers, video game creators and movie producers.

Two Maryland families filed that suit after their relatives were murdered by a man who also allegedly followed directions set forth in Paladin's Hit Man.

Citing the First Amendment, a judge threw out the Maryland lawsuit, saying the book was protected speech and that printed words are so far removed from action that a book can't incite lawless activity. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Paladin Enterprises v. Rice, ruling that the book was a blueprint for crime.

The Maryland lawsuit ended last year with a confidential multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement. Paladin also promised to stop publishing Hit Man and remove it from its catalog.

In Wilson's case, her estranged husband, Robert Leslie Goggin, hired Robert Vaughn Jones to kill Wilson so he could collect her $100,000 in life insurance.

Jones agreed to give half of his $50,000 payment to Vincent Wayne Padgett, his accomplice, according to police reports and court records.

All three men were convicted and are serving prison terms ranging from 17 1/2 to 20 years.

According to Wilson's lawsuit, Jones admitted that he bought Hit Man and that he and Padgett studied it to prepare for the crime.

Jones and Padgett followed 25 specific directions listed in the book, such as buying new shoes, using a specific .22-caliber handgun, wearing latex gloves and using disguises, the lawsuit says.

Wilson fought off Jones as he tried to choke her with a wire backpacker's saw and cut her with a knife. She survived because a handgun jammed when Jones tried to fire it at her as she fled.

No trial date has been set.

A lawyer for Paladin, David Harrison of Boulder, said the publisher hadn't been notified of the Lane County lawsuit.

Paladin wanted to fight the Maryland case because of its potential to weaken First Amendment protections for publishers, he said.

"It was the insurer's decision to settle the (Maryland) lawsuit," Harrison said. "Had Paladin been making the decision, the lawsuit would never have (been) settled."

The Maryland case set off alarm bells among First Amendment watchdog groups, said Tiffany Villager, an attorney with the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

"First Amendment advocates see it as an erosion of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech," Villager said. "The fact the court allowed Paladin to be sued makes people wonder what other movie or book will be used" as the basis for a lawsuit.

Update

'Hit Man' publisher settles Oregon lawsuit
Bobby Joe Wilson sought at least $4.5 million in damages from Paladin Press; neither side will discuss terms of the deal.  02.27.02

Related

Books and movies as natural born killers
Ombudsman There are no limits to the limits on free expression if publishers, broadcasters and the producers can be held responsible for crimes of those who try to avoid responsibility by saying a book, movie or music made me do it.  10.26.98

Murder by the book: Free speech takes a hit
Ombudsman Publisher's decision to settle in murder case involving Hit Man murder manual demonstrates how vulnerable formerly unassailable speech has become.  05.24.99

Supreme Court allows lawsuit against Hit Man publisher
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused today to free a publisher from a lawsuit over three killings committed by a hit man who followed a book's advice on how to commit murder for hire.  04.20.98

'Hit Man' publisher settles lawsuit, agrees to stop selling book
Two families had claimed that a hired assassin followed manual's instructions on how to kill their loved ones.  05.24.99