Supreme Court Won’t Shield Reporter’s Notes

A state Supreme Court official refused Thursday to stop a Skamania County judge from compelling a Seattle newspaper reporter to surrender her notes and testify in an ongoing domestic-violence trial.

Court Commissioner Geoffrey Crooks said he believes the issue should be argued before Superior Court Judge Bernard Heavey before the high court becomes involved.

Kathy George, Olympia bureau reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, had mentioned the Skamania County case in a story regarding controversy that surrounded Gov. Mike Lowry’s appointment of Heavey. The case involves an alleged knife attack by a woman on her husband.

George was subpoenaed to appear before Heavey, the only judge for Skamania and Klickitat counties, at a hearing in Stevenson, Wash., Thursdayafternoon. Her testimony is being sought by Camas, Wash., attorney Robert A. Lewis on behalf of his client, Glenda Thomas, who is charged with attacking her husband, David, in January.

In pleadings filed Wednesday, the Post-Intelligencer argued that both state and federal constitutions protect journalists from invasions of their news-gathering activities except under limited and compelling circumstances.

In her April 15 story about Heavey, George quoted the prosecutor in the case, Irene Asai, as saying Heavey had erred in allowing prosecutors to use evidence against Glenda Thomas from a police search of the home.

George’s story focused mainly on Heavey’s competence as a judge.