Blogger jailed after defying court orders

[SoCalDem]

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/2-2-0&fp=44d01ffec40660a1&ei=aPzQRNj-PIP2owLd962TAg&url=http%3A//news.com.com/Blogger%2bjailed%2bafter%2bdefying%2bcourt%2borders/2100-1028_3-6101187.html&cid=1108410512

By Jesse McKinley
The New York Times

Published: August 2, 2006, 5:17 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO--

A freelance journalist and blogger was jailed on Tuesday after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest here last summer and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest.

The freelancer, Josh Wolf, 24, was taken into custody just before noon after a hearing in front of Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court. Found in contempt, Wolf was later moved to a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., and could be imprisoned until next summer, when the grand jury term expires, said his lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes.


Earlier this year, federal prosecutors subpoenaed Wolf to testify before a grand jury and turn over video from the demonstration, held in the Mission District on July 8, 2005. The protest, tied to a Group of 8 meeting of world economic leaders in Scotland, ended in a clash between demonstrators and the San Francisco police, with one officer sustaining a fractured skull.


snip

[porphyrian]

1. Yeah, you can't refuse a subpeona, especially from a grand jury.

If you do, you go to jail. It looks like he pissed of a judge, too. I hope he doesn't go through all this only to have the video come out anyway.

[ThomCat]

2. I hope the ACLU is fighting this.

Freedom of the Press should not apply only to corporations. Our founding fathers recognized that anyone who could distribute their ideas was the press. With the help of the internet, we all have the potential to be "the press" no more or less than the pampheteers in colonial times.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Freedom of the Press? What I think you mean is a reporter shield law

and there is not one at a Federal level. If you are not the NYT or LAT, its almost impossible to get a Federal subpoena quashed

[hpot]

3. He should have played the Bush card

The card of ignorance and incompetence,

Bush: "Gee, I didn't know Katrina was going to be a disaster, who would a thunk it?"

Blogger: "Gee, I lost the video by accidentally recording over it."

[Ian David]

4. "with one officer sustaining a fractured skull"

Bush does more damage to a policemen when he rides his bicycle.

Bush collides with police officer during bike ride
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/06/bush.bike/