Independent Challenges Court’s Contempt Finding

Attorneys for the Santa Barbara Independent filed legal papers with the California Court of Appeal arguing that Judge Brian Hill erred in finding the weekly paper in contempt of court for refusing to turn over all the photographs taken by Independent photographer Paul Wellman of the downtown crime scene last March shortly after 15-year old Angel Linares was stabled to death on State Street in a gang-related rumble.

Instigating the legal show down is Karen Atkins, the senior Public Defender representing 14-year old Ricardo Juarez, who is accused of killing Linares. Juarez has been charged as an adult, meaning he’d be sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty. Atkins is seeking any evidence that might exonerate her client, and has secured hundreds of photographs from the Santa Barbara Daily Sound and the Santa Barbara News-Press. (The Sound initially refused Atkins’ demand but abandoned the legal fight when Hill ruled the California Shield law did not apply, due to lack of funds; the News-Press willingly turned over its photo archives on the case when asked.) The Independent is resisting efforts to open its unpublished materials to official scrutiny out of concern that its reporters and photographers will come to be regarded by potential sources-willing or otherwise-for governmental agencies.

The Independent‘s attorneys argued Atkins failed to provide any evidence there was “a reasonable possibility”-not merely a theoretical possibility-that Wellman’s unpublished photographs “will materially assist” in Juarez’s defense.The legal standard required by California Constitution to penetrate California’s journalistic shield law, which protects newspapers from prosecutors and defense attorneys seeking to utilize the unpublished material collected by news organizations for their own benefit, requires a reasonable possibility.