Bottom Line: In what could be a major precedent against reporters and freedom of the press, a judge is demanding a reporter pay her own legal fees for refusing to disclose her sources on a story. 03-10-2008
Judge accused of trying to bankrupt ex-reporter
Cleveland Plain Dealer, 3/10/08
A judge is trying to bankrupt an ex-reporter with daily fines of as much as $5,000 for refusing to disclose her sources for stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks, press advocates said Saturday.
They also said the case involving Toni Locy shows why Congress should pass a federal shield law for reporters.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Friday denied a request from Locy to stay payment of fines for a contempt citation pending an appeal, and Walton ruled she must "personally bear the responsibility of paying the fine the court imposed."
While at USA Today, Locy wrote about a former Army scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, whom the Justice Department identified in 2002 as a "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks that killed five and sickened 17. Hatfill has denied any involvement and sued the government for violating his privacy by discussing the investigation with reporters. No one was charged in the attacks.
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, said Walton appears to be trying to bankrupt Locy, who now is a professor at West Virginia University's journalism school.
"What he's doing is essentially saying, 'Toni Locy, I am going to destroy your life,' " she said. "This is just plain crazy. I know you're not supposed to call a federal judge arrogant, but this is arrogant."
The judge pointed to statements Hatfill's lawyers made in court papers in explaining his rationale. Hatfill's legal team said that while Locy's reporting was conducted "within the scope of her employment for USA Today, her contempt was not. It began long after she left the employment of USA Today."
Starting at midnight Tuesday, Locy was ordered to pay fines of $500 a day for the first week, $1,000 a day for the second week and $5,000 thereafter until she appears before the judge April 3.
Congress is considering passage of a federal shield law that would protect reporters from revealing their sources. Such laws are in place in 33 states.
