Dorothy Spezchet: Big Fun For The Incitement Of Criminal Behavior

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On the 13th of march, 1987, the band big fun released a song entitled teenage suicide don’t do it. On November 12th 1988, A young high school senior, named Dorothy Spezchet, took her own life. After a thorough investigation of the crime scene, a Big Fun CD was found on it the track entitled teenage suicide highlighted in red ink. The police also found out that this CD was given to her by her classmate and close friend, Tyler Delray. The parents of Dorothy Spezchet sued the band Big Fun for the incitement of criminal behavior. Dorothy Spezchet was believed to be a cheery and dreamy girl by her parents and teachers. But her peers had different opinions about Dorothy, they saw her as distant and condescending. It is believed that she had one …show more content…

After Dorothy's 17th birthday things seemed to go downhill for her. Her grades started to slip, she went from an A student to getting straight C’s. She was dropped from the mathletes and she was targeted by bullies. During the next three weeks , her parents found that she was playing the song teenage suicide a threateningly large amount of times. At 3:50 pm November 12th 1988 Tyler found Dorothy dead in her room. The coroner's report showed that she died from ingesting a mixture of painkillers and alcohol. It should be noted, the third line of the song Teenage suicide is “drugs and alcohol don’t mix, no shit.” Her suicide note states that she blew it, she goes on to quote the song five more times. During routine questioning, Tyler Delray said “ I wish I never bought her that CD.” On January 9th 1988 Mr and Mrs. Spezchet formally sued Big Fun in a civil court. The Spezchet’s said that the song that they released was full of subliminal messages that pushed their daughter to take her own life. The official lawsuit was for negligence and reckless misconduct. The lawsuit was against the members of Big Fun and The record label 2 cent. The defendants pled not guilty, with the defence of they were well in the realm of the first amendment when they released that CD. The Court hearing originally took place within the state of Hawaii but was appealed to the supreme

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