COLUMN: Why not just hand over the photos?

BY JERAMY GORDON
A lot of readers are curious as to why the Daily Sound doesn’t want to turn over photographs in the paper’s possession depicting the March 14 gang melee on State Street that left a 15-year-old dead and 14-year-old charged with his murder.
The most important asset a newspaper has is it’s credibility. And in order to maintain that credibility a newspaper must — and I stress must — remain impartial. It’s not a newspaper’s job to help one side or another even if it serves that particular newspaper’s interest to do so.
I also don’t appreciate the way Deputy District Attorney Karen Atkins went about pursuing the photos. In mid-june, after the Daily Sound first ran a photo of Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez in handcuffs, I received a call from Atkins. She wasn’t happy.
She asked why I would print a photo of her client in the paper when this “is clearly an identity case.”
The answer is simple.
When District Attorney Christie Stanley decided to try Juarez as an adult, it freed him from the protection a minor would normally receive in a criminal case — including giving media the right to use his photo.
When I refused to stop printing Juarez’ photo, Atkins threatened to seek a gag order. I told her to go ahead and do so. Two weeks later, I was issued a subpoena demanding I turn over all photographs in the Daily Sound’s possession. Clearly it was retaliation.
If Atkins had subpoenaed photos and video footage from all local media, I probably would feel differently about this situation. And, I can’t make any guarantees, but if she had just asked to see the other photos — before threatening me with a gag order — I probably would have shown them to her.
Every media outlet in town was on State Street that day, taking photos, shooting video and gathering information. If the Daily Sound had anything other media didn’t, you better believe we would publish it in a second. It goes to the whole “we had it first” school of thinking the media so often embodies.
But getting back to my point: A newspaper’s news gathering records must remain confidential. If the government can bust into our office and demand to see our records at any time, journalism — as I’ve come know and love it in this country — will never be the same.
What’s happening here is: Atkins is preparing to paint a picture of total confusion at crime scene — too much chaos for police to identify her client as the killer.
On page 5, paragraph 4 of the subpoena issued on Monday, Atkins says she already has photographs from the crime scene in her possession.
In cases like this, it’s common practice for defense attorneys to do everything they can to delay a case. Prosecutors are acutely aware that the longer a defense attorney can delay a case like this, the dimmer eye witness memories become.
I’d also like to clarify one thing: This whole situation is not about the photos we’ve already published, those are now public information and can be obtained by asking us or paying a quick visit to your local library, what we’re talking about are unpublished photos.

E-mail Jeramy Gordon at jgordon@santabarbarafree.com