'Kansas City Kansan' Fights Subpoena

Posted Monday, September 2, 2002 12:00 am

By: Mark Fitzgerald Kansas City Kansan Managing Editor Rebecca Shelton asked a judge Thursday for a "protective order" against a subpoena demanding all her notes and records in connection with a $75,000 civil-defamation suit.

The suit was filed by the Wyandotte County Unified Government's director of development, LaVert Murray, against whistle-blower Allan Baskett for statements in a Feb. 1, 2001 article.

The Unified Government made national headlines in July, when county prosecutors won a rare conviction on criminal-defamation charges because of statements about the mayor published in The New Observer, another local paper.

"I'm not going to turn over anything," Shelton told E&P. The Kansas City Kansan is not named in the defamation suit.

Murray could not be reached by deadline.

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'Kansas City Kansan' Fights Subpoena

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