By: Joel Davis Reporter Found To Be In Contempt
California's shield law is being pummeled yet again, this time in San
Diego, where a reporter faces jail time for withholding notes from a
jail-house interview with an accused murderer.
State Superior Court Judge John Thompson found The San Diego Union-
Tribune's J. Harry Jones in contempt after the courts reporter
declined to surrender to the defense notes of an interview with Jacob
Henderson, 28, accused of three murders. The trial, set to begin in
February, is a death-penalty case.
The state's 4th District Court of Appeal rejected the reporter's appeal
of the contempt ruling June 20. He and Union-Tribune attorneys
have until Tuesday to appeal to the California Supreme Court.
Jones, a 14-year veteran of the paper, told E&P that his notes
are being sought by the defense, which means the defendant's
constitutional right to a fair trial is colliding with California's
constitutionally mandated shield law. Since the notes are from an
interview with the defendant and not from a confidential source, Jones
said he is withholding them 'on the principle that I not become an arm
or tool of the defense.' Jones, who has a family, said he is unsure
whether he would go to jail to protect the notes because he could be
locked up for the duration of what is expected to be a lengthy trial.
He added that his lawyers are 'not optimistic' of having the contempt
order reversed on appeal.
Alarmed by the number of shield-law cases in California, Assemblywoman
Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill that would
require courts issuing subpoenas to give journalists at least 10 days'
notice before they must appear in court and allow a court to award
attorney fees to a prevailing journalist. The bill, passed by the
Assembly and now in the Senate, would require notice of why the
information is being sought and why other sources of the information
wouldn't suffice.
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