What's curious here is that the profits were not profits from the murder but rather Thatcher's denial he was the killer:
April 21, 2010 THE CANADIAN PRESS
REGINA - Convicted killer Colin Thatcher has turned over the money from his book about the murder of his former wife, ending a struggle that set the legal benchmark for laws preventing criminals from profiting from their crimes.
Justice Minister Don Morgan said the province has been given the $5,000 advance the former cabinet minister received, as well as a copy of a letter instructing his publisher to direct any further payments to the government.
"From a legal point of view it's over," Morgan said. "Now it's a matter of verifying the sales and the money."
The provincial government rushed last year to pass a law forbidding criminals from profiting from the retelling of their crimes after word surfaced that Thatcher had written a book, "Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame," in which he argued he was not guilty of murdering JoAnn Wilson in 1983.
Thatcher, son of former Saskatchewan premier Ross Thatcher, took the government to court, arguing the law didn't apply because his book is about his dealings with the justice system, not the murder itself. He also argued that the law was unconstitutional because it violated his freedom of expression.
3 comments:
At least he did not write about how he would have killed her.
Isn't that one of the punishments. A person who has been incarcerated for murder no longer has any freedom of any kind?
I think he should have appealed. He could have won this case. As bad as Thatcher is, I don't agree with what the government did.
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