In the Line of Duty - Is 'Murderabilia' Website a Crime??

PrisonBoundSerialKillers.com, which urges customers to “stay evil,” is vulgar, shocking and has one national anti-murderabilia crusader asking, “Are you going to allow this kind of low-life capitalist to thrive in your state?

“In Massachusetts, you have no legal remedy,” said Andy Kahan, director of Crime Victims Assistance for the mayor’s office of Houston. “Now you’ve got somebody in your back yard thumbing his nose at all elected officials in your state, taunting them to stop him.

“Everybody says they’re appalled,” Kahan said, “but nobody does anything about it.”

PrisonBoundSerialKillers.com was privately registered on May 8. Its anonymous host - who claims he was “doing crimes when I was suppose (sic) to be in school!” - calls himself Arthur J. Shawcross, an apparent tribute to the Kittery, Maine, man known as the Genesee River Killer, who is serving a 250-year prison sentence for strangling and mutilating 11 New York State prostitutes.

PrisonBoundSerialKillers.com features Shawcross drawings and an autographed picture for sale.

For $8.99, one can also purchase a letter from jail from China Arnold, the Ohio woman who earlier this year confessed to cooking her baby daughter in a microwave oven. A mere $14.99 buys dirt allegedly scooped from the grave of Chelsea native Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the Boston Strangler.

It’s unclear who pockets the money. It is not illegal in Massachusetts to profit from one’s crimes - or the crimes of others - though state Rep. Peter J. Koutoujian, (D-Waltham), has been trying to end the practice.

His anti-murderabilia bill that would prevent lawbreakers and killers from cashing in on their notoriety, while not interfering with their right to express themselves in artwork or in memoirs, is currently before the House Ways and Means Committee. Most states forbid the peddling of murderabilia, but in 2002 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled even serial killers are entitled to free speech.

“I believe we have a strong case to make to move it forward and stop this offense, not only to individual victims and their families, but to all of society,” Koutoujian said. “My hope is that through the passage of this legislation, we can stop the attractiveness of these types of sales by taking away the profit.

“By selling these items and by putting out into commerce this propaganda and these drawings and paintings and so-called art, we’re creating a farm team for future residents of murderers’ row,” he said. “I can’t help but worry that the people who are interested in buying these materials are considering committing these types of crimes.”

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