RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Ruling that the right to a free press doesn't cover a how-to-kill book, a federal appeals panel said the families of a hired killer's victims may sue the publisher of a book that he consulted. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied First Amendment protection to ``Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors,'' saying publisher Paladin Press knew it would be used by murderers. ``The Supreme Court has never protected as abstract advocacy speech so explicit in its palpable entreaties to violent crime,'' the panel said in its ruling Monday. The book was sold to James Edward Perry, who was convicted of killing Mildred Horn; her disabled 8-year-old son, Trevor; and the son's nurse, Janice Saunders, in Silver Spring, Md., in 1993. The women were shot between the eyes and the boy's respirator was unplugged. Perry is on death row for the murders, and Lawrence T. Horn, Mrs. Horn's former husband, was sentenced to life in prison for hiring Perry. Horn's motive was to collect $1.7 million from a malpractice settlement that his son Trevor won from a hospital after the accident that left him a quadriplegic. Paladin has never challenged Perry's claim that he followed some of the 130-page paperback's advice. ``This decision says that if you're in the business of helping instruct murderers on how to slaughter innocent women and children, you aren't going to find any shelter in the First Amendment,'' said Howard Siegel, an attorney for the families. Paladin Press, based in Boulder, Colo., plans to ask the full 4th Circuit to review the panel's decision and will seek a Supreme Court review if necessary, said Lee Levine, the publisher's attorney. The appeals court ''did not sufficiently take into account the First Amendment implications of holding the publisher of a book legally responsible for actions of someone reading the book,'' Levine said. The lawsuit was supported by victim rights groups, while The Washington Post Co., The New York Times Co. and other media organizations filed briefs supporting Paladin's position. In 1996, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams ruled that the victims' families could not hold Paladin liable because of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The appeals panel sent the case back to Williams for trial. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"