Goetz Can Keep Publishing Profits, N.Y. Board Rules
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ALBANY, N.Y. — The state Crime Victims Board said today that subway gunman Bernhard Goetz is not covered by a law requiring convicted criminals to forfeit money gained from the selling of their life stories.
The board ruled that because Goetz was acquitted of most charges stemming from the Dec. 22, 1984, shooting he can keep the money.
Under New York’s so-called “Son of Sam” law, criminals must turn proceeds of books and movies over to the board which, in turn, distributes the money to their victims.
Goetz, who shot four youths on a crowded subway train because, he said, he feared he was about to be robbed, was acquitted last June of assault, attempted murder and reckless endangerment.
He was convicted on one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
The Crime Victims Board said the one-count conviction was not sufficient to trigger the Son of Sam law.
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