Hit Man case settles.

The families of three people killed by a man who allegedly followed the advice in a murder-for-hire instruction book have agreed to settle their claims against the book's publisher and its owner for several million dollars. (Rice v. Paladin Enterprises, Inc., No. 96-2412 (D. Md. May 21, 1999).)

The case, which was settled just days before it was scheduled to go to trial, was being watched closely by free speech advocates. Several media and entertainment organizations had filed briefs in support of the defendants during three years of pretrial appeals out of concern that a plaintiff verdict would have a chilling effect on those industries.

In the latest ruling in the case, the Fourth Circuit found that a wrongful death lawsuit against the book's publisher, Paladin Press, and its owner, Peder Lund, by the murder victims' relatives was not prohibited by the First Amendment. The court found that the publisher of a book that gives explicit advice on how to commit murder can be held accountable when someone reads the book and follows the advice to the letter. (Hit Man Manual Not Protected by First Amendment, TRIAL, Jan. 1998, at 92.)

The case arose out of the 1993 murders of Mildred Horn; her eight-year-old quadriplegic son, Trevor; and his nurse, Janice Saunders. Horn and Saunders were shot in the head in Mildred's Montgomery County, Maryland, residence. Trevor died of asphyxiation after his breathing tube was disconnected.

Edward James Perry, a Detroit resident, was convicted of the murders. During his trial, prosecutors showed that he had followed more than two dozen explicit instructions in Paladin Press's Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors. The book is a "how-to" manual for contract killers.

Trevor's father and Mildred's ex-husband, Lawrence Horn, is serving a life sentence for hiring Perry to carry out the slayings so Lawrence could collect money Trevor had received from the settlement of a medical negligence lawsuit.

As part of the settlement negotiated with the murder victims' relatives, Paladin Enterprises and Lund have agreed to contribute money to two charities chosen by the plaintiffs and to turn over to them the remaining 700 copies of Hit Man.