Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for FreeJ. Pena finds that a civil contempt order on a newspaper that disobeyed a subpoena to produce a reporter's unpublished jailhouse interview notes in an underlying murder case was procedurally invalid. Counsel seeking the material failed to provide personal service of a show cause order on the newspaper, as required to commence a separate action on the contempt charge. The contempt order failed to specify the punishment, and the trial court's 10-day stay of the judgment was ambiguous. However, the trial court properly denied the newspaper's motion to quash the subpoena. Under the newspersons' shield law, the trial court had discretion to find the newspaper's published story provided nonspeculative indications that the reporter's unpublished notes could be key to codefendant's defense. The subpoenaed material is not confidential or sensitive and there is no alternative source. Defendant faces life without parole, so his right to a fair trial outweighs the protection given to reporters under the law, and the potential importance of the information favors defendant. Vacated in part.