Legal experts: California reporter did not commit crime

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Janie Har, Associated Press Updated 3:45 pm CDT, Thursday, May 23, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A battle between the press and police is playing out in politically liberal San Francisco after police raided a freelance reporter's home and office seeking to uncover the source of a leaked police report into the unexpected death of the city's former elected public defender.

Journalist Bryan Carmody did not commit a crime when he acquired and published a police report, said First Amendment expert David Snyder because a police report is "not a confidential, legally protected document" and its disclosure and publication is lawful.

Snyder said a journalist who participated in unlawfully acquiring information could be successfully prosecuted for a crime, but that was not the case here.

Carmody said he received the report from a source and did not pay for it, though legal experts argue doing so would not have been a crime. Still, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said the journalist "crossed the line," motivated by profit or animosity toward the late public defender, Jeff Adachi.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Legal-experts-California-reporter-did-not-commit-13877992.php

[emmaverybo]

1. Jeff Adachi was a warrior for social justice justice and rights. SFPD is one of the best and most

socially conscious of all police departments,

[bitterross]

2. Apparently, except when it comes to themselves

Seems like when it comes to being investigated or reported on in a manner they do not like, they channel the same fascist instincts we see in every other PD.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

4. Excuse me.

I lived in San Francisco for years. For the most part, SFPD IS much better than the average police department and its officers are extremely professional. Having said that, the BRASS of the police department guards its reputation VERY closely. Run afoul of them and you will find your life quite difficult. Jeff Adachi was not shy about calling out what he felt was wrong.

The handling of Carmody was over the top wrong. They didn't just want his notes on Adachi's death, they took ALL of his files (computer, disc, paper, tapes) on EVERYTHING. They didn't just ask him for his sources - which he was under NO legal obligation to give them - they showed up at his door at the crack of dawn with a battering ram and half a dozen officers. Never even bothered to knock.

Don't know who approved this raid, but The City is going to pay dearly for this cluster ****.

[emmaverybo]

5. Ok thanks for yr. explanation. I also lived in SF, personal knowledge of the police culture

and training there. But obviously not enough background on the story. Do know of problems with
Brass.

[Ford_Prefect]

3. The details of the article make clear that those who pursued the search warrants

seem to have exceeded their authority or misrepresented the evidence underlying the warrants.

The report was not legally secret as such. If the SF coroner "found Adachi died Feb. 22 of a mixture of cocaine and alcohol, compromising an already bad heart", then the public had a right to know that.