Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ABINGDON LENGTH: Long
`COP KILLER' DEFENDANT WINS LAWSUIT
Vic Vanover, who in August was led from his record store in handcuffs on false charges of selling obscene music to a child, was awarded $55,000 Thursday for his trouble.Three months ago, Vanover was facing jail time for selling an Ice-T cassette tape that included the controversial rap song "Cop Killer." But after a Washington County grand jury declined to indict Vanover in October, the allegations shifted to his accuser.
Patrick Mannix, a self-appointed watchdog who pushed for charges against the owner of Vette Records in his one-man crusade against pornography, was accused in a civil trial Thursday of malicious prosecution, defamation and slander.
After hearing how Vanover's storefront arrest caused him public humiliation and loss of business, the jury awarded him $25,000 in compensatory damages and $30,000 in punitive damages.
Vanover, who has called the obscenity charges against him an attack on the First Amendment, said the jury's verdict "sends a clear message to people like Mr. Mannix that you can't go around doing stuff like this."
Although Mannix said he was acting only as a parent concerned that his 15-year-old son was listening to the likes of "Cop Killer," the civil action against him spelled out a different motive.
In a $100,000 lawsuit filed the day after Vanover was arrested last August, Mannix was accused of bringing the charges to get even with Vette Records after his son was charged with shoplifting at the store earlier in the month.
Because Mannix missed his deadline to respond to the lawsuit, Judge Charles Smith entered a default judgment for Vanover - leaving the jury with the sole job of awarding damages.
While the case Thursday was only about money,Mannix wanted the jury to hear it all, including a tape of "Cop Killer." He had his boom box plugged in and ready to boom, but Smith would not allow it because the merits of the case already had been decided by default.
"Cop Killer" is a song about a troubled youth in South Central Los Angeles who decides to go on a shooting spree to avenge police brutality. It includes obscenities directed at police and lyrics such as "I'm bout to dust some cops off."
Mannix said the jury needed to hear the song - which generated a national outcry before Ice-T pulled it from his "Body Count" tape last summer - to understand his concerns.
"I did what I did as a parent, and I'll do it again to protect my children, your children and even Mr. Vanover's children," he told the jury.
"Twenty-two percent of his inventory is parental-advisory garbage, and he's displaying it in every nook and cranny of his store. Any kid who comes off the street has access to this stuff."
Just because Mannix may feel that way doesn't give him the right to have someone arrested on false charges, said Abingdon lawyer Daniel Bieger, who represented Vanover.
"If we have any freedom at all in this country, it's to be free from arbitrary arrest," Bieger said.
Mannix sought to distance himself from the actual arrest by pointing out it was executed by police on a magistrate's warrant. But he weakened his argument by saying that he researched the law and went to the magistrate to swear out charges himself after police had decided there wasn't a case against Vanover.
Until the grand jury agreed, Vanover was forced to live two months in anxiety and public embarrassment, Bieger told the jury.
"You can take a lot away from a person," he said. "But when you start to take away their reputation and standing in the community, then you have done a harm that will take years to overcome."
Julie Vanover testified that her husband's arrest caused them financial headaches and marital problems.
And people kept asking questions as word of the arrest got around, she said. "It was quite embarrassing to us to try to explain to the community that we were not selling obscene material to a minor."
Vanover first was charged with selling obscene material to a juvenile, but prosecutors dropped the charge and sought an indictment on a charge of selling material that is harmful to juveniles.
While that charge was believed easier to prove, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney David Saliba nonetheless admitted at the time that he faced the tough task of showing there was a community standard that "Cop Killer" appealed to prurient interests and lacked social or artistic value.
There was also a serious question about whether the tape in question was even sold; inventory records from the store showed it was not.
Despite all that, Mannix had hoped to continue his anti-pornography crusade in the civil case, seeking the services of a lawyer affiliated with Oliver North.
When that fell through, he winged it - acting as his own attorney, as he has done in numerous lawsuits against local government officials in other matters.
He wore a flannel shirt and khaki pants to court, and that wasn't the only thing that set him apart from other lawyers. "I'm swimming with both hands tied behind my back," Mannix said at one point as he struggled with complicated rules of evidence and court procedure.
Despite the way the case turned out, Vanover said it's made him think twice about selling records in Abingdon. He's put his business up for sale, and is considering other ventures out-of-state.
But as long as he stays in town, Vanover says, he won't have to worry any more about a man he onced called a "right-winger zealot."
In asking for a large verdict against Mannix, Bieger reminded jurors that he had warned of seeking similar charges in the future.
"The only thing that will stop him, ladies and gentlemen," Bieger told the jury, "is you."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.