The Manual | Criminal Podcast | Forensic Files

how did you first meet Mildred horn I was retained to represent her child who was severely disabled in a lawsuit
against a Washington D.C hospital for medical malpractice Howard Siegel he's a lawyer and the case
he's talking about took place in 1990 after a baby named Trevor Horn was injured while undergoing a procedure in
the hospital the hospital's respirator failed and Trevor Horn suffered severe brain damage
he became paralyzed and would need a breathing tube and 24-hour nursing care for the rest of his life
the family sued the hospital I represented the family in that lawsuit and what was the result of the lawsuit it
was a multi-million dollar settlement nearly two million dollars to pay for Trevor's Medical Care
Trevor's mother Mildred horn was a single parent living in Silver Spring Maryland she was Raising Trevor and his
two sisters Mildred's family lived nearby and a nurse named Janice Saunders spent every night in Trevor's room
watching over him this family was just totally committed to making this child's life
um as as comfortable and as loving as as was possible now his mother Mildred horn
and her husband Lawrence Horne were separated and eventually divorced and and the father was at that time living
in L.A and he was a sound engineer for Motown after he and Mildred split up he had little contact with their children
until he heard that his ex-wife was suing the hospital when the trial started Lawrence horn
flew from California to be there just after opening statements the hospital's lawyers approached Howard
Siegel and offered to settle the case out of court Mildred horn accepted their settlement
offer Lauren's horn wasn't happy about it Mr horn turned to me and he said that's not enough
and I said well what are you talking about and he wrote down on a yellow uh sheet it was a a legal yellow pad and
he wrote down a million dollars times 10 percent which is a hundred thousand dollars a
year he said I came here looking for this amount of money for me and my jaw just dropped open
um and I said what makes you think that you're entitled to a nickel of this child's
money and he looked me right in the eye and he said Trevor lives through me and I'll just never forget that moment
as long as I live because I went out in the hall and I I said to my co-counsel I have never seen anything like this man
[Music] oh three years later early in the morning on March 3rd 1993 Mildred Horn's sister
went over to the house as she often did and found the garage door open and Trevor's medical monitor alarm going off
police found Mildred horn dead just inside the front door in Trevor's room police found that his life support
system had been disconnected his nurse Jana Saunders had been shot three times the other children were safe they'd
spent the night somewhere else the house had been turned upside down and the car was missing
I was driving at work and I heard the news that Mrs horn and Trevor and their nurse had
been murdered and I didn't even blink I just I it's Larry horn there was not a question in
my mind that Larry horn had somehow perpetrated this murder police officers in Los Angeles were sent
to question Lawrence horn immediately after the bodies were discovered and they found a piece of paper in his
pocket that had an airline flight number and flight times written on it Mildred horn was a flight attendant and those
numbers matched the flight she was scheduled to work the day she was murdered police obtained a warrant to search his
apartment they took computers videotapes recording equipment and whatever papers
they could find but none of it linked him to the murders seven weeks passed they were still
unable to make an arrest even though Mildred Horn's family and friends were absolutely certain it was Lawrence horn
Howard Siegel was certain even the judge from the hospital malpractice case told
police that Mr horn had been unusually interested in the settlement money but there wasn't any evidence and
Lawrence horn had an alibi a good one at the time of the murders he was on the other side of the country in his
apartment in Los Angeles with his girlfriend about two months after the murders Lawrence horn agreed to an interview
with the Washington Post he said he was grieving the loss of his ex-wife and son
and unequivocally denied having anything to do with the crime for me to do that I would be dead now he
said I would not be living on because what would be the purpose I'd be a monster
I'm Phoebe judge this is Criminal [Music] Maryland police investigated the case for the next 16 months a spokesperson
called it the most exhaustive and labor-intensive investigation in the Department's history they tapped
Lawrence horns phones and if I'm not mistaken they figured out Lawrence horn had a pay
phone near his house in Los Angeles and they put a tap on that phone they figured out he was smart enough not to
have been using his own phone to contact whoever he was in cahoots with in this and they found out he had been
communicating with a guy in Detroit named James Perry police found 136 calls between Lawrence horn and this man James
Perry they got a warrant to search Perry's House in Detroit and in the house they found a book and the book was
titled Hitman a technical manual for independent contractors which was essentially a how to commit
murder book what do you mean a how to commit murder well that's what it was it was a a
murder manual it was a it was a publication that would teach anyone who was so inclined
what steps to go through to commit a murder and get away with it the author of Hitman a technical manual
for independent contractors was someone named Rex Farrell the book was published
in 1983 by Paladin press they they ordered the book law enforcement ordered the book from Paladin press
and when they started to go through it and compare it to what they had found out took place in the crime they were
able to find 27 instructions that Perry followed and these aren't instructions like run and hide or be
careful these were very specific instructions I mean I am so surprised that people
actually hire Hitmen I thought it was just something we see in the movie oh it's it's amazingly common
um husbands hire Hit Men to kill their wives wives hire Hit Men uh to kill their husbands business deals go bad you
know I don't want to say it's a common occurrence but it's much much more common than you would ever imagine
[Music] Paladin press the publisher of this Hitman manual was owned by a former Army
Ranger named Peter Lund Who Sold books primarily through mail order catalogs and at gun shows
the best-selling title in paladins catalog was a guide to shooting someone at long range from a hiding place it's
called the ultimate sniper they published a book called be your own and Undertaker how to dispose of a dead body
uh then they they published how to make a homemade flamethrower smuggling made easy
had a rip off a drug dealer kill without Joy the complete how to kill book how to destroy Bridges
their book homemade C4 a recipe for survival was reportedly read by Timothy McVeigh before he made a truck bomb that
killed 168 people in Oklahoma City Hitman a technical manual for independent contractors had sold more
than 13 000 copies by the time James Perry ordered his own how closely did James Perry follow the instructions and
okay think of a complicated recipe that you get in a cookbook with 12 steps in it okay and if you want to
make these cookies you have to follow these 12 steps exactly the way it's described
or the cookies will not turn out James Perry followed 27 steps in this book in committing this crime
and it was truly a recipe for murder foreign [Music] police figured out that Lawrence horn
was planning to pay James Perry from Trevor's settlement money the almost 2 million dollars he expected would come
to him after he arranged to have his wife and son killed but mildredhorn's sisters weren't going
to let that happen they filed the lawsuit of their own blocking Lawrence horn from receiving
anything from his son's estate so James Perry had been hired to do a job and had done it but had not been
paid he kept calling Lawrence horn and asking for his money it was these repeated phone calls going
on for months that brought them both down they were each indicted on three counts
of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy actually testified in both cases I
wonder when Lawrence horn saw you walking into the courtroom if he thought to himself oh no
well I think Lawrence horn knew what I was going to say he knew I was going to relate that incident that happened in
the courtroom um which I did and uh any father that would come to a trial like that concerned with
how much money he was going to get uh when his son was you know profoundly disabled and needed
the money desperately to take care of his daily needs um it's just evil incarnate
did he look you in the eye did you make any gun oh yes what was his reaction as you were
testifying well there wasn't much of a reaction Lawrence horn had uh not not the slightest feeling of guilt for what
he did none Lauren's horn was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences James Perry
was sentenced to death and while that's the end of part of the story it's just the beginning of a whole other part
I was just astounded that such a murder manual could be published so um I ordered a copy myself
and started looking into it and it didn't take me long to reach the conclusion that something had to be done
um I called my dear friend and co-counsel John Marshall and I said we've got to do
something about this and and you know we got together and I still remember we had a meeting in
the Montgomery County Library a law library and um I I looked at the book and we talked
about the First Amendment and I remember very clearly saying John uh this [ __ ] can't be covered by the first
amendment that was my exact quote it just can't be and um we just felt very strongly that this was
not the what the framers of the First Amendment had in mind when they decided to protect free speech
in 1996 on behalf of Mildred horns two surviving daughters Howard Siegel filed a civil lawsuit against Paladin press in
federal court in Maryland arguing that the book aided and abetted the wrongful death of Mildred Trevor and the nurse
Jana Saunders how did you feel this book differed from other pieces of entertainment depictions
of violence and that's a great question um when Tom Clancy publishes a book that
has a detailed descriptions of how someone made a bomb his intent is to entertain
he doesn't intend that people will misuse his book and commit crimes so when someone takes a Tom Clancy book
and learns enough in it to perpetrate a criminal act he is misusing Tom Clancy's book He's
not using it as Tom Clancy intended with Hitman a technical manual for independent contractors the people who
were buying it and using it were using it exactly precisely the way the author and the
publisher intended that it would be used and you can read the beginning of the book you know it says this is all you
need to become a successful Hitman they were offering a correspondence course in how to commit murder
and that's not protected by the First Amendment if a criminal came to me and said I want
to learn how to do burglaries and I said well here's what you do you know here's how you break in here's
how you get away with it well I'm going to jail for eating and abetting so what is the difference between doing
it in in something that has a cover and pages as opposed to doing it orally you're still teaching people to commit
crimes chocolate chip cookies are gonna get made if you distribute the recipes Howard is
certainly capable of hyperbole Tom Kelly was hired to defend Paladin press in the lawsuit he calls himself a
press lawyer he's defended the rights of journalists and publishing companies for
more than 40 years and his version of the merits of the lawsuit are very different than ours the
ultimate question was what role did this book play in the murder did it cause the
murder or is this a murder that would have occurred regardless of whether the book
had ever been published he also has a different take on the book itself I would describe it as something
hard to take seriously [Music] some of the techniques described were fascinating some were Preposterous
others were familiar as as someone who reads crime novels enjoys movies like The Godfather and so forth
but in terms of true cold-blooded psychology it didn't impress me as very realistic
Tom Kelly says that there are many instructions in the book that James Perry did not follow don't check into
hotels in your real name James Perry did that don't make long-distance phone calls from the vicinity of the crime
scene especially not to your employer James Perry did that too Tom Kelly also says that the
instructions in the book are generic like wear gloves and shoot for the head there were similarities
but relatively few that had any meaning whatsoever and it cannot be said that this book
caused these murders to occur they were with a momentum of Their Own and the book If if anything was merely
window dressing their position always no matter what I said was it's a book it's a book it's a
book it's a book you can't sue a book the judge agreed he said yeah it's a book it's protected get out of here
Howard appealed the decision to the U.S court of appeals for the fourth circuit the question can a book be responsible
for what someone does with its content was controversial a number of media organizations came out
in support of Paladin press including ABC and the New York Times the fear was that if Paladin was found
responsible any novelist or journalist writing in detail about crime could be vulnerable to lawsuits
I I'd imagine there would be a conflict in a juror's mind trying to weigh the harm caused to a human being versus harm
done to an idea that's absolutely true and the only way to try this case was not to ask them to
protect an idea but to abide by their oath and listen to the chorus instructions liability here
requires causation in the sense that the murder would not have occurred but for this book ladies and Gentlemen please
put on your investigator's trench coat and sift through these facts and see if that is borne out by them
and uh we all understand what sympathy is all about in this situation but you took on
a you know a greater human obligation when he took an oath to follow the law and facts in this case as the judge
gives you the law and the facts as they're found by you and there's certainly no guarantee that
that's going to win but I think it should foreign Did anyone say to you listen you're getting too personal this
isn't your fight yes everyone um one of the things I face with this case um was that I had to put my practice on
hold I mean it was all consuming um you know there were times where it actually scared me how much time I
was spending and how involved I had become in this case and I I just had too much of myself wrapped up in this case
to lose it what did the four circuit judges say well uh judge ludic wrote a um as I recall a 63-page opinion so he
said a lot and I think the basis of their opinion um was the argument that we advanced
that said when speech is used as the vehicle to commit the crime it is not protected by the First Amendment
and and I think that's all it boils down to is this is astoundingly obvious you can't Aid in a bet murder and claim
the protection of the First Amendment [Music] favor of Howard and the horn family
meaning Howard could move forward with a lawsuit against Paladin but one day before the trial began the publisher
decided to settle the case out of court Paladin paid a confidential sum of money
to the horn family and agreed to pull all copies of Hitman a technical manual for independent contractors from
publication but it was picked up and put on the internet we couldn't stop that um and it's as far as I know it may be
out there right now for anybody wants to read it where I have a I have a PDF of it sitting right in front of me yeah you
can't put the genie back in the bottle the owner of Paladin press Peter Lund died last year and the Press shut down
and Howard Siegel is now retired he says this is a case that's taught in law schools all over the country I think
it left a good Mark on Mark that says Common Sense will prevail over ideology [Music]
um and and over strict construction of the Constitution [Music] that's what lawyers do
I have the utmost respect for everybody that was on Paladin's side I think they do important work and 90
percent of the time maybe 99 of the time um I'm gonna join forces with those guys
I'm gonna March arm and arm and protect the First Amendment not this time [Music]
foreign Spore Nadia Wilson and me audio mix by Rob Byers extra production help by
Crystal duhane matild erfelino is our intern Julian Alexander makes original illustrations
for each episode of Criminal you can see them at thisiscriminal.com or on Facebook and Twitter at criminal show
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special thanks to adzerk for providing their ad serving platform to radiotopia I'm Phoebe judge this is Criminal
[Music]

In 1993, Mildred and Trevor Horn, along with their live-in nurse Janice, were found murdered in their Montgomery County home. A Maryland police spokesperson described the homicide investigation as the most “exhaustive and labor intensive” in the department’s history. And then homicide investigators found a strange manual titled Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors published by Paladin Press, and the case became national news.

Criminal is a show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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Music in the episode “Entrance Shaft 11” by Blue Dot Sessions “Under Suspicion” by Lee Rosevere “Bauxite” by Blue Dot Sessions “Inamorata” by Blue Dot Sessions “Gaddy” by Blue Dot Sessions “Nothing, Nothing at All” by Blue Dot Sessions “Lumber Down” by Blue Dot Sessions “Sunday Lights” by Blue Dot Sessions

Episode 85 originally published 2/23/2018 https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-85-the-manual-02-23-2018

Brief Summary

Mildred Horn's tragic murder case raises questions about liability for a murder manual's role in crime.

Key points

The Tragic Case of Trevor Horn. Trevor Horn suffered severe brain damage due to hospital malpractice, leading to a lawsuit.
A Shocking Murder. Mildred Horn and her son Trevor were found dead, leading to a complex investigation.
The Controversial Murder Manual. A book titled 'Hitman' was linked to the murders, raising First Amendment questions.
Legal Battle Over Free Speech. Howard Siegel filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the murder manual.
A Case That Changed Laws. The case against Paladin Press set a precedent for legal responsibility of violent content.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Trevor lives through me.

Lawrence Horn's emotional claim during the lawsuit.

3:00WatchJan 7, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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