Bryan Kohberger: Profiting Off Murder | When Infamy Becomes an Industry

Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary

True Crime Today

News, True Crime, News Commentary

3.3 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bryan Kohberger can’t leave his cell — but his story can. In the state of Idaho, there’s no Son of Sam law, meaning that a convicted murderer can legally make money from the story of his crimes. Books. Documentaries. Interviews. Royalties. In this episode, Tony Brueski and former prosecutor Eric Faddis expose how one of the most horrifying modern murder cases has collided with one of America’s oldest constitutional blind spots: the First Amendment’s protection of speech — even when that speech turns into profit from murder.

Tony opens with the question every viewer needs to hear: How can a convicted killer make money from killing? The answer lies in a 1991 Supreme Court ruling, Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board, which struck down New York’s original Son of Sam law after the “Son of Sam” killer, David Berkowitz, tried to sell his story. The Court ruled that laws restricting “crime-based storytelling” discriminated against speech by content. States rewrote their laws to pass constitutional review — some succeeded, others failed — but Idaho never passed anything. The result: a legal vacuum where infamy becomes an industry.

This episode breaks down the moral, legal, and economic consequences of that loophole. What does it mean for victims’ families when killers can cash checks? Could Kohberger assign rights to a third party to hide profits? And why are lawmakers too afraid to fix it? Tony and Eric dissect how “freedom” became a shield for greed, how fear of being called unconstitutional paralyzed reform, and why the justice system now doubles as a business model.

Justice shouldn’t have a payout plan. This episode asks why America keeps writing one.

#BryanKohberger #SonOfSam #TrueCrime #JusticeSystem #CrimePodcast #VictimsRights #TonyBrueski #EricFaddis #KohbergerTrial #FreeSpeech #MurderProfit #TrueCrimeAnalysis

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brewski, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels.
0:07.9	We love to tell ourselves that justice ends at the verdict.
0:13.2	But in America, justice often just kind of changes platforms a little bit.
0:17.6	Brian Coburger can't leave his cell, but his story sure can.
0:20.8	And in Idaho, that's where there's no son of Sam law.
0:25.0	That story could make him money.
0:27.6	Free speech is sacred, but freedom to profit from murder?
0:32.5	That's not right.
0:34.3	That's an oversight.
0:36.3	Eric Fattis is joining us to discuss, former prosecutor and defense attorney.
0:41.2	Eric, when you hear that convicted killer, Brian Koberger, could legally make money off of his story, off of his crimes.
0:52.3	What's your first reaction as a prosecutor or just as a human being?
0:58.2	Yeah, Tony.
0:59.3	I mean, when you go out and slaughter innocent people,
1:04.5	you shouldn't be entitled to some kind of benefit for that,
1:07.9	some kind of monetary windfall for those horrible misdeeds.
1:13.1	And so that's my initial impression.
1:15.0	I think that's how a lot of society sees it.
1:17.2	You know, on the other hand, there are interests regarding free speech and that kind of thing.
1:22.0	And so it's sort of a balance that the courts and legislators have to look into it.
1:27.7	And it looks like it wasn't adequately looked into, at least in Ohio.
1:31.5	And the thing is, with the son of Sam laws, it's kind of a quilt of it across the United States.
	...

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