BOISE, Idaho — A new bill in Idaho could prevent convicted criminals from profiting by sharing their stories.
Sponsors of the bill say high-profile cases like Bryan Kohberger’s trial inspired the bill.
Idaho has a law from 1978 that only applies to criminals profiting from re-enactments of their crimes. Lawmakers hope this bill will make sure any profits from book deals or movies will go to the victims instead of the offenders.
Several states have laws that require the profits from a criminal’s sale of their story for a book, movie or other media to be put into an account and distributed to victims. Idaho’s law currently only applies to re-enactments of crimes, and legislators decided it’s time to update the regulations.
“Technology has changed and the way we’re able to bring about entertainment has changed,” said Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton. “In modernizing it, I wanted to make sure we were including things like podcasts, books, movies and appearances and licensing, things along those lines.”
If the bill passes, any money that a criminal would be paid for telling their story of a crime would be put into an escrow account for five years. Victims of that crime would be able to file civil lawsuits or claims, and a judge could grant them money from that account.
“Criminals should not be necessarily profiting off of their crimes, especially if they’re heinous-type crimes,” said Nichols. “I just feel that that is really wrong, to be able to profit off your crime like that.”
Both sponsors of the bill in the Senate and the House say the Moscow murders and Bryan Kohberger’s trial partially inspired this bill. Kootenai County Representative Elaine Price says this issue is especially close to home for her.
“Several of the families live in my community,” said Rep. Elaine Price, R-Kootenai County. “I attend church with one of the mothers, so they definitely came to mind.”
The sponsors of the bill expect it to have widespread support in the House and the Senate. If it passes, it would go into effect in July of this year.
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