Subpoenas for riot photos, tapes once again thrown out

05/31/99

MICHIGAN–A state trial judge in East Lansing declined in late May to throw out the second round of subpoenas issued against journalists for unpublished photographs of March riots at Michigan State University. The first group of subpoenas were dismissed by the state Supreme Court in late April.

Trial judge David Jordon once again ordered 11 news organizations to provide law enforcement officials with unpublished photographs and videotape taken of rioting that erupted on the Michigan State campus after the school’s loss to Duke University in the NCAA basketball tournament.

In early April, Jordon ordered the same news organizations to respond to similar subpoenas issued by Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings and held that the Michigan shield law, which provides an absolute privilege against the disclosure of the identities of confidential sources, was not applicable because no confidential informants are involved when photographs are taken at a public gathering.

In late April, however, the state Supreme Court in Lansing ruled that the original subpoenas were improperly issued as discovery subpoenas, which normally are enforceable only against parties to the action at hand.

Dunnings reissued the subpoenas in early May as investigative subpoenas. Jordon’s most recent order for the news media to turn over unpublished photographs and videotape of the riots allows for a three- week stay of enforcement of the subpoenas, until a state appellate court can hear arguments on the matter in June.

The news organizations affected — the Detroit Free Press, the Lansing State Journal, Michigan State’s The State News, and television news outlets in Detroit, Flint, Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids – – argue that the investigative subpoenas are improper because a 1995 state law allows this type of subpoena to be issued against the news media only when the news media are the subject of the investigation. (In re Subpoenas to News Media Petitioners; State Journal’s Counsel: Charles Barbieri, Lansing; Free Press Counsel: Herschel Fink, Detroit)

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Publishing company sues over newsroom search

A legal publisher sued Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, claiming violations of a federal search law and interference with publishing caused by a newsroom search earlier this year.

The Metropolitan News Company, publisher of the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, a legal newspaper in Los Angeles, and company owner Roger M. Grace sued Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley Dec. 16 over a May 2 search of the company’s downtown offices.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, stems from county investigators’ quest for documents they said related to a probe of possible government corruption in South Gate, Calif.

On May 2, investigators for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office served a search warrant on the company. The warrant called for seizure of records showing the identity of a customer that had placed legal advertisements with the publication, according to the complaint.

The warrant authorized the search of company offices, including areas where news materials were stored. During the search, 11 armed investigators closed the company’s offices for three hours and ordered employees — including reporters — out of the building, according to the complaint.

About two weeks earlier, the company had offered to turn over the materials if the investigators provided the name of the firm that placed the advertisement, said Grace, who also is editor and publisher of the newspaper.

If the newspaper had been subpoenaed for the business-related materials, Grace said he would have complied.

“In other words, there was really no reason for the search,” Grace said.

The documents sought by the district attorney were turned over by Metropolitan News-Enterprise Co-Publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace after telephone conversations with district attorney’s office and once the investigators provided the name of the firm that placed the ad.

In the complaint, Grace and the company allege that the search of the newspaper office violated the Privacy Protection Act, which bars execution of search warrants on news organizations unless there is probable cause to believe that the person who has the materials in question committed a crime, or unless seizure is necessary to prevent death or injury.

According to the complaint, the search limited the content of the next day’s Metropolitan News-Enterprise and delayed completion of that day’s edition of the Los Angeles Bulletin, an afternoon daily published by the company.

In a May 2 statement Cooley defended the search: “This office is very sensitive to and respectful of First Amendment issues as it relates to news rooms. There was nothing about this search that would indicate otherwise.”

The complaint seeks a declaration that the search violated the Privacy Protection Act and seeks damages for trespass, interference with business operations, and violation of civil rights.

The company also alleges that Cooley libeled Grace and the company in a May 2 news release and in a letter to the Los Angeles Times, which accused Metropolitan News of refusing to comply with the warrant.

“Your suggestion that the newspaper shield law might extend to cover business invoices for legal notices will have to be worked out in the courts,” the letter also stated in reply to an earlier editorial.

And working it out in court is just what Grace hopes to do with this lawsuit.

“The important thing is to judicially establish is that the DA didn’t have the right to do what he did,” Grace said. “If [Cooley] won’t proclaim that the search was a mistake, then we feel we need to get a judge to declare that.”

(Metropolitan News Company v. Cooley; Media counsel: Lisa Grace-Kellogg and Roger M. Grace, Los Angeles) — JL

Related stories:

Investigators with search warrant close newsroom for three hours (5/3/2002)

© 2002 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

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Journalist ordered to jail for protecting sources

Refusing to reveal the identity of sources could land the editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper in jail for five days.

An editor and publisher of a California weekly newspaper was ordered by a state trial court last week to spend five days in jail for contempt of court after refusing to reveal his sources. Tehoma County Superior Court Judge Noel Watkins delayed the effectiveness of the sentence until Jan. 21, when Tim Crews, editor and publisher of the Sacramento Valley Mirror in Artios, has been ordered to return to court for questioning.

The contempt order arose when Crews refused to name two sources for a story relating to a theft charge against California Highway Patrol officer Dewey Anderson. Anderson has pleaded not guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges relating to an allegedly stolen firearm, according to the Associated Press.

Crews reported in the Valley Mirror that he was informed by officers that Anderson had stolen a handgun and that he was read portions of a written report concerning Anderson. The trial court found that the need of Anderson’s defense attorneys to know the identity of Crew’s sources outweighs Crew’s protection under California’s shield law.

(California v. Anderson)

© 2000 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

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Reporters’ phone records protected in Islamic charities investigation

A reporter’s privilege based on the First Amendment and common law protects two journalists’ telephone records from grand jury subpoena, a federal district judge held.

Feb. 25, 2005 — U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet of Manhattan ruled yesterday that the telephone records of two New York Times reporters are protected from disclosure to federal prosecutors trying to identify a government leak in the investigation of Islamic charities suspected of aiding terrorists.

Sweet held that the telephone records are protected by a qualified privilege under the First Amendment and under common law, and that prosecutors had failed to overcome the privilege.

“To deny the relief sought by The Times under these circumstances, i.e., without any showing on the part of the government that the sought records are necessary, relevant, material and unavailable from other sources, has the potential to significantly affect the reporting of news based upon information provided by confidential sources,” Sweet wrote.

The sought telephone records spanned weeks in late 2001 and could have identified numerous confidential and non-confidential sources.

Last summer, Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is also the special prosecutor in the unrelated investigation into who leaked the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to reporters, threatened to subpoena the telephone records of Times reporters Philip Shenon and Judith Miller in a Chicago grand jury investigation. Fitzgerald believes that government agents leaked plans to raid two Islamic charities suspected of funding terrorists to the Times, and that Shenon and Miller tipped the charities to the raids when they called for comment. Shenon and Miller deny alerting the charities to the raids.

It is unclear if subpoenas were actually issued, because both Fitzgerald and the Times‘ telephone company declined to comment, citing grand jury secrecy rules.

In September, the Times filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York against then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to block the subpoenas.

Fitzgerald asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that any subpoenas were only “hypothetical” because his office and the telephone company had declined to confirm them, and that the case would interfere with the grand jury investigation in the federal court in Chicago. Sweet dismissed both arguments.

Sweet ruled that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Branzburg v. Hayes and subsequent decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York (2nd Cir.) recognize a qualified reporter’s privilege under the First Amendment. Citing disagreement among the federal circuits, Sweet declined to follow the recent ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in the Plame investigation that no such privilege exists in grand jury proceedings.

Sweet also ruled that a common law privilege exists in the federal courts under the Federal Rules of Evidence and Supreme Court precedent because the privilege has been recognized by 48 states and the District of Columbia. The Washington appellate court was split on the common law privilege issue.

In his 121-page ruling, Sweet also relied on the sworn statements of reporters, a historian and a government attorney on the public benefits of confidential sources to reporting.

The Times reported that its attorney, Floyd Abrams, said that the opinion will help in framing the reporter’s privilege issue for possible Supreme Court review. Fitzgerald is considering whether to appeal, according to a statement reported by Reuters.

(The New York Times Company v. Gonzales, Media Counsel: Floyd Abrams, Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, LLP, New York) — GP

Related stories:

Federal appeals court upholds reporter subpoenas (02/15/2005)
Reporters’ phone records subpoenaed (09/10/2004)

Other links:

SPECIAL REPORT: Reporters and Federal Subpoenas

© 2005 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

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Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy urged the U.S. Circuit Court of Appealsin Washington on Thursdaynot to throw out her case seeking a reporter’s privilege to keep her sources confidential.

Locy became embroiled in the legal battle after reporting about Steven Hatfill, the former Army scientist who was investigated in the 2001 anthrax attacks but whose name has sincebeen cleared.When Locy refused to give up her confidential sources in Hatfill’s ensuing Privacy Act suit againstthe government, the U.S. District Court in D.C. held her in contempt. She appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.

Though Hatfill settled his underlying case with the government this summer for $5.8 million, Locy’s appealof the contempt order has still been pending.

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Last week, Hatfill filed a motion to dismiss Locy’s appeal, arguing that there’s no need to decide her case now because he has settled his case and Locy’s sources are no longersought.Locy responded Thursday, asking the judges to keep her case on the docket.

In the court papers, Locy’s attorneys argued thateven withHatfill’s settlement, Locy’s dispute over whether she has a privilege to keep her sources confidential still needs to be decided.

Hatfill told the court in his filing last week that once the case was dismissed he would seek attorney’s fees from Locy. That Hatfill will continue to pursue Locy in litigation over fees is onereason Locy’s case is still alive and should be decided, her attorneys argued.

“A significant financial dispute persists between Hatfill and Locy, despite Hatfill’s settlement with the government,” the attorneys wrote in Locy’s motion. “The propriety of Locy’s assertion of privilege should be determined by this court on appeal.”

Locy’s attorneys also responded to Hatfill’s argument that Locy has not been harmed by the contempt order because she hasn’t yethad to pay any of the daily contempt fines the district judge slapped her with.

“The sanction by the District Court can easily be perceived as a condemnation of Locy by a federal court, which carries with it the potential adversely to affect Locy’s life and career,” the attorneys wrote in her court papers.

Lastly, Locy argued that if the Court of Appeals does dismiss her case, it must vacate the contempt order.

A representative from the Transportation Security Administration visited the home of a second blogger this week to serve a subpoeana seeking the source of a security directive that was posted on the blogger’s Web site, Wired reported.

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A TSA agent visited the home of Steven Frischling Tuesday night — the same day established travel writer Christopher Elliott also received a subpoena — to demand he reveal who supplied him with new screening requirements established by TSA after a would-be bomber boarded a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. Frischling, a freelance writer who authors a blog for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, had published the directive on Dec. 27.

Frischling said agents arrived at his house just moments after he received a phone call from Elliott warning him of a possible visit.

“They came to the door and immediately were asking, ‘Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?’ and ‘I don’t think you know how much trouble you’re in.’ It was very much a hardball tactic,” Frischling told Wired.

Frischling’s laptop was seized and he decided to cooperate with the authorities — handing over the Gmail address from which the security directive was sent — after receiving advice from an attorney.

Oct. 4, 2007 · For the first time ever, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to send a federal reporter’s shield bill out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) presided over a markup session Thursday that ended with a 15-2 vote that sent the bill, S. 2035, to the Senate floor.

“The time for needless delay of this legislation has passed,” the senator said in prepared remarks. “We simply have no idea how many newsworthy stories have gone unwritten and unreported out of fear that a reporter would be forced to reveal a source, or face jail time.”

The bill faces an uncertain future on the Senate floor as critics, including the Bush administration contend that it would impair the government’s ability to discover leaks that pose a risk to national security.

The bill provides exemptions for cases involving ongoing terrorism investigations and an amendment by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) prohibits accused spies, agents of foreign countries and terrorists from receiving the protections by arguing that they are journalists.

Brownback and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) voted against the bill. And Kyl, who has offered more than two dozen amendments to the current measure, was especially vocal about his national security-related concerns during Thursday’s markup.

However, the Arizona senator agreed to work with one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to resolve some of his objections before the legislation reaches the full Senate.

The bill, which has the support of more than 50 news organizations, was one of two introduced in the Senate this year. The Judiciary Committee took up S. 2035, originally sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Schumer, instead of a bill that would have provided greater protection for journalists, which was sponsored by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). Lugar and Dodd ended up co-sponsoring S. 2035.

The House Judiciary Committee passed a similar measure, H.R. 2102, in August. And in a speech to the Associated Press Managing Editors on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she plans to bring the bill up for a vote sometime this year.

“This is fundamental to our democracy and fundamental to the security of our country,” Pelosi said.

(S. 2035, Free Flow of Information Act of 2007) — Jennifer Koons

© 2007 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press · Return to: RCFP Home; News Page

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In a hunt for the source ofa grand jury leak, lawyers for aPennsylvania casino ownerhave demanded that15 reporters, including several from The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Associated Press,turn over their notes and personal cell phone bills.

The subpoenas are part of a judge’s hearing into whether a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the leak.

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Two [Allentown] Morning Call reporters were among those served with subpoenas Wednesday by attorneys for Louis DeNaples. The Poconos businessman was charged earlier this year with perjury inhis sworntestimony to gaming authorities.

The reporters were told to appear in court, notes in hand, on June 30.

”This is an attempt to inhibit the legitimate gathering of information by the press about issues of urgent interest to the citizens of Pennsylvania,”Ardith Hilliard, Morning Call vice president, told a reporter for the paper. ”We will vigorously defend our rights to fulfill this duty to the public. I am confident those rights will be upheld.”

AttorneyGayle C. Sproul, on behalf ofThe Morning Call and the AP, said they"will rely on the protections afforded by state and federal law."

Whilea federal shield law is still being hashed out in Congress, Pennsylvania law provides reporters an absolute privilege againsthaving to reveal their confidential sources in court.Just last year, in another case of a grand jury leak,the state Supreme Court overruled a lower court’s attempts to force a Scranton reporter to break a promise of confidentiality.

Houston Astros’ Michael Brantley hits an RBI single during the third inning of Game 3 of the baseball World Series against the Washington Nationals in Washington.

The Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 in Game 3 of the 2019 World Series in a game they had to win, breaking the Nationals’ eight-game winning streak in the postseason.

Houston, trailing the series 2-0, led the scoring with an RBI single in the second inning by right-fielder Josh Reddick after shortstop Carlos Correa doubled off of Washington’s starting pitcher Aníbal Sánchez.

The Astros added another run in the third inning on a single by left-fielder Michael Brantley, scoring second-baseman José Altuve, who had doubled and reached third base on an error by the Nats left-fielder Juan Soto. Houston’s 2-0 lead after three innings proved to be all they needed to take Game 3.

“I just liked the competitiveness of our at-bats,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said in a postgame interview. “We were kind of pretty focused on handing the baton to the next guy, which is really important. We’re at our best when we do that.”

The Nationals got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning on a triple by center fielder Victor Robles, scoring first baseman Ryan Zimmerman who had opened the frame with a walk, making the score 2-1.

The Astros responded with a run in the fifth inning after José Altuve doubled and Brantley singled for his second RBI, extending their lead to 3-1.

The Nats had chances to score, stranding eight runners over the first five innings, and 12 overall.

Houston chased Nats’ starter Sánchez in the top of the sixth after he gave up a homer to catcher Robinson Chirinos and then walked pinch hitter Kyle Tucker. The homer made the score 4-1.

Here’s what made this a must-win game for Houston: no team in the history of the Fall Classic has ever come back to win after losing the first three games. The Astros made sure they would not be in that position.

Game 3 was the first World Series game played in the nation’s capital since 1933.

Game 4 in Washington will feature Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin against the Astros’ rookie Jose Urquidy.

Louisville, Ky. — The NFCA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 Turface Athletics / NFCA Field of the Year award. Garnering recognition are Jane Sanders Stadium (University of Oregon), Triton Softball Field (University of California San Diego), Hoff Field/Luther College Softball Stadium, Grizzly Softball Complex (Georgia Gwinnett), Lady Viking Field (Grayson County College), Dean and Adah Gay Sports Complex (Bakersfield College) and The Rock Softball Complex (Strong Rock Christian School).

This award, made possible by NFCA Official Sponsor Turface Athletics, recognizes the top fields/stadiums in the nation for their flawless grounds maintenance and exceptional playing surfaces. The winners are selected by the NFCA Awards Committee.

NCAA Division I: Jane Sanders Stadium (Oregon)

Jane Sanders Stadium is a state-of-the-art facility with a stadium structure that allows for fans to be on top of the action. Home to the Oregon Ducks, the Jane holds a capacity crowd of 2,500 with 1,500 reserved chair back seats around the main bowl and another 1,000 permanent outfield bleacher seats (installed in 2018) in the centerfield, dubbed “The Bob.” Head groundskeeper Justin Arp keeps the Sunmark Seed and Soil, DR pro 5.5 with a mixture of Pro Choice Premium play infield in pristine condition.

NCAA Division II: Triton Softball Field (UC San Diego)

Triton softball field, located in La Jolla, Calif., was built in 2011 and features a stadium-seating capacity of 750, lights, newly renovated press box, netted backstop and a lighted batting cage with a turf floor. The newly renovated stadium-style seating, along with the netted backstop allows for perfect views of the field. Renovated sunken dugouts with helmet cubbies and a bat rack were recently added. While UC San Diego Recreation Operations – Armando Orozco, Scott Maitoza, Erick Arriaga, Jesus Hernandez and Bob Moore – works on the grass, it’s the coaching staff that spends hours upon hours preparing the dirt playing surface. Located above the stadium, a restaurant and coffee lounge allow fans to hangout, while watching the game.  

NCAA Division III: Hoff Field / Luther College Softball Stadium

Dedicated and named in 2016 after legendary NFCA Hall of Famer Betty A. Hoff, Hoff Field / Luther College Softball Stadium received upgrades that same year with new netting, elevated press box and stadium seating. The seating was purchased out of the former Metrodome in Minneapolis and later refurbished prior to installing. The infield was resurfaced this summer with Ball Field Aggregate dolomitic limestone. The dugouts, constructed in 2008, feature curved beams in a Norwegian-inspired design and individual “lockers” in the home dugout and a new windscreen was installed in 2017. A labor of love for assistant coaches Teri Olson and Miranda McCay, the duo does all the weeding, edging, clay repair and game-day preparation. 

NAIA: Grizzly Softball Complex (Georgia Gwinnett)

The Grizzly Softball Complex opened in the spring of 2013. The facility accommodates up to 600 fans and features a natural-grass field, consisting of Bermuda (summer/fall) and rye (winter/spring), full dugouts, complete with restrooms and a climate-controlled press box. Over the last three years, there have been gradual improvements made to enhance the facility structurally and aesthetically with new backstop padding, an artificial turf halo behind home plate, all netting and fence pad replaced, and the entire park enclosed with windscreen. In 2019 a player shelf was installed in the dugouts.

Behind the hard work of its crew – John Ihlenburg, Kyle Norton and Doug Court – the Grizzly Softball Complex is one of the top fields in the NAIA as its playing surface rivals many surfaces across the sport. The clay is laser graded each winter to ensure the crown of the field remains in order to maximize drainage. Additionally, a four-camera layout for video streaming will be installed for 2020. 

NJCAA: Lady Viking Field, Grayson County College (NJCAA DI)

Home of Grayson County College, Lady Viking Field was constructed in 1999. The playing surface is comprised of clay, sand and conditioner mix and the outfield grass of Bermuda overseeded with rye. In 2016, artificial turf was installed in foul territory from dugout to dugout. Large brick dugouts house the home and away sides of the field, while a newly installed grandstand behind home plate, along with a press box with first-story storage for field equipment came to life in 2017. The coaching staff of Mike McVrayer, Jason Miller and Ashley Mills take it upon themselves to provide the players with the best possible field experience.

Cal JC: Dean and Adah Gay Sports Complex (Bakersfield College)

Built in 2010, the Dean and Adah Gay Sports Complex recently received an upgrade in 2018 with the addition of 78 tons of Pro Gold Infield Mix. This was a gamechanger for Bakersfield as it improved the look and the play of the field. It didn’t stop there. In 2019, new back stop padding was added prior to the season with new back stop netting and graphics completed this summer, which has enhanced the stadium’s look. The home of the Renegades is maintained by Albert Castillo and Megan Rowe and has hosted seven CCCAA state tournament since 2012, the Kern County All-Star game and the Lead Off tournament that included two-time state champion Mt. San Antonio, along with San Mateo and Santiago Canyon.

High School: The Rock Softball Complex (Strong Rock Christian School)

Constructed in 2005, The Rock Softball Complex sits by a lake and features all brick dugouts with multiple air conditioned locker rooms, an upstairs clubhouse with outside seating overlooking the field, a coach’s office with a view of the field and an all brick fully functioning press box with with an advanced speaker system built in. It hosts the Georgia Junior College Championships each year, along with several other junior college and elite exposure tournaments. It includes a fully furnished indoor facility, five batting cages and an automatic sprinkler system. Tommy Spinks and is field crew maintain a clay/sand mix infield and Bermuda sod outfield. 

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