By: A judge yesterday released grand jury records from the investigation of a newspaper whose top executives were arrested after they wrote about a subpoena seeking information on news stories and readers.
Presiding Criminal Judge Anna Baca of Maricopa County Superior Court said she ordered the release partly because Phoenix New Times reported the existence of subpoenas on Oct. 18. Also, other documents in the file didn't need to be kept secret to protect the grand jury process and the matter was of public concern, the judge said.
Court officials then provided reporters with discs containing hundreds of pages of records from an inches-thick paper file that Baca held aloft at one point while discussing its contents with lawyers.
Saying the investigation had been mishandled and compromised, County Attorney Andrew Thomas last week canceled the probe of the Phoenix New Times and dropped charges against the two executives of the alternative weekly's parent company, Village Voice Media. The probe by a now-former special prosecutor appointed by Thomas concerned the New Times' online publication in 2004 of county Sheriff Joe Arpaio's home address in an apparent violation of state law related to safety of law enforcement officers.
Deputy County Attorney Sally Wells told Baca that the investigation had been in its early stages, that the special prosecutor had a court clerk issue subpoenas without having to consult grand jurors and that grand jurors had not yet heard any testimony.
A subpoena to New Times sought extensive material related to numerous stories on Arpaio, not just the one about his property holdings that listed his home address, as well as the newspaper's online readers.
Current and former New Times employees also received subpoenas. The judge granted a request by Thomas' office to quash all the subpoenas.
The records released yesterday included briefs and motions in which the former special prosecutor, Dennis Wilenchik, and attorneys for New Times traded charges of misconduct and harassment.
Filings on behalf of New Times accused Wilenchik of demanding "a breathtaking array of documents" and of violating the newspaper's First Amendment rights, while Wilenchik said New Times demonstrated "hatred and animosity" toward Arpaio.
Lawyers for The Arizona Republic and Phoenix television station KPNX had requested the secret grand jury material be released so the public could assess the conduct of prosecutors and others involved.
"Serious questions have been raised about every aspect of this investigation," said David Bodney, an attorney for the two Gannett Co. Inc. units.
New Times joined in the request for documents, which included the transcript from a closed-door court hearing which Baca held Oct. 11 after an intermediary for Wilenchik asked that Baca meet with the prosecutor.
The State Bar of Arizona, which is investigating whether the intermediary's request on behalf of Wilenchik violated attorney ethics rules, also sought release of the hearing transcript.
While Thomas supported release of the material, Wilenchik had said he didn't have a position on the matter because he no longer was special prosecutor.
He also has said the subpoena to New Times sought information on online readers to determine whether there was a real threat to Arpaio's safety.
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