Cornyn's bill would prevent the sale of "murderabilia"

Texas Senator John Cornyn announced yesterday at the Harris County Courthouse that he has a bill in the works that would prevent incarcerated felons from making a profit of their personal belongings or art - "murderabilia," if you will. The bill is championed by victims' rights organizations, but the constitutionality of such a law is questionable.

Houston victims' rights advocate and director of the Mayor's Crime Victims Office Andy Kahan has been fighting the sale of murderabilia for nearly ten years. In 2001, he successfully lobbied Ebay to prevent the sale of such items on their website. However, this only brought other rogue online dealers into the market. Murderabilia can include anything from sketches to foot scrapings to fingernail clippings to autographs of convicted murderers. Cornyn believes that convicted felons have forfeited their right to profit from their crime and that the sale of murder-related items is unfair to victims' families.

However, similar bills have been shot down as unconstitutional because they infringe on prisoners' freedom of speech. Senator Cornyn believes that this bill is worded so as to fall under Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce and that it will pass through Congress without a fight. Tod Bohanon, who runs murderauction.com, told the Chronicle that inmates do not usually even profit from the sale of their items and that he intends to fight this bill, using suspiciously serial-killer-esque language: "Once I win a million dollars from them violating my rights, I'm going to buy every letter and piece of clothing from every serial killer. They'll never stop me then." Critics have also said the bill is too broad and may prevent inmates from mailing personal items to their families.

The bill is slated to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Cornyn is a member, next week.