ABC seeks to duck RNC arrest case

Newsday
January 20, 2005, 10:49 PM EST
ABC seeks to duck RNC arrest case
BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS
STAFF WRITER

A protester arrested during the Republican National Convention last summer is taking on the media now.

June Brashares, 40, held up a banner that read "Bush lies, people die" during President George W. Bush's acceptance speech on Sept. 2 in Madison Square Garden, and she was quickly arrested.

Brashares, a member of CodePink, a social justice group founded by women, was charged on several counts, including third-degree assault, and was due back in court later this month.

The employer for two of her key witnesses, television journalists who were covering the speech, are trying to stymie efforts to have their employees testify, citing New York and California Shield Laws.

Reporter Mark Matthews and cameraman Nicholas Clark, who work for the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, were covering the event when Brashares began her protest about 40 minutes into Bush's speech.

Thursday, Brashares' lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, asked Manhattan Criminal Court Court Judge Neil Ross to issue an out-of-state subpoena forcing Matthews and Clark to testify.

The judge said before he would do that, he would allow ABC to file a brief stating how the Shield Laws could be interpreted in this case, since the request for testimony doesn't appear to pierce journalist confidentiality.

"Their testimony is arguably relevant here," Ross said.

Ross instructed Gottlieb to submit a letter to the court by Jan. 26 stating clearly that they are not seeking any confidential, raw footage or sources, and he gave ABC 10 days to respond in a brief.

"ABC's policy is not to reveal unpublished information obtained during the course of newsgathering. We believe it's protected by the New York Shield Laws and the First Amendment," said Indira Satyendra, counsel for ABC.

Gottlieb said he is not pleased that ABC is trying to block the subpoenas for Matthews and Clark.

"Their eyewitness accounts are the most necessary and compelling we could ever hope to produce," Gottlieb said, adding that Matthews and Clark could corroborate Brashares' version of events.

Also in court Thursday was actress Rosario Dawson, best known for her roles in "Alexander" and "Josie and the Pussycats." She was arrested Aug. 29 and maintains she just got caught up in police action that night and had a permit to be on the street to film a movie. Her case has been adjourned until March 8.