If they can't come up with a reasonable rationale for deleting it, the court is likely to rule they were attempting to destroy evidence of a crime. A reporter that backs up and saves all their photos and videos - except the ones showing rioters' faces for instance, would likely be found guilty. It's no different than people trying to dodge taxes or fines by shuffling money around before the court orders hit.
Disclaimer: Hawaiian judge types will do their thing no matter what the real laws and precedents are.
Judge rules Seattle media companies must hand over protest images to police
July 23, 2020 at 5:30 pm Updated July 24, 2020 at 7:30 am
By Mike Reicher
Seattle Times staff reporter
Five news outlets, including The Seattle Times, will have to comply with a subpoena and give the Seattle Police Department unpublished video and photos from a May 30 racial justice protest that turned violent, a judge ruled Thursday.
King County Superior Court Judge Nelson Lee sided with the Police Department in a morning hearing, ruling that its subpoena was enforceable. He found that the photos and video were critical for an investigation into the alleged arson of SPD vehicles and theft of police guns.
Lee said the news organizations were not protected by a Washington state shield law that under many circumstances prevents authorities from obtaining reporters’ unpublished materials.
The judge placed some limits on the subpoena. He said police could use the images to identify suspects only in the arson and gun theft investigations. Detectives could not use the photos or video to pursue suspects in vandalism or other lesser crimes — even if police found such evidence.
The subpoena would also be limited to professional camera equipment and would exclude reporters’ cell phone photos and videos.
The Seattle Times and TV stations KIRO 7, KING 5, KOMO 4 and KCPQ 13 were all subpoenaed.
Lee ruled that the SPD had met its burden to overcome the shield law: that the images were “highly material and relevant” and “critical or necessary” to prove an issue that has a compelling public interest for its disclosure. Getting the stolen weapons off the street was one compelling public interest, Lee found.
The law also required the police to demonstrate that all “reasonable and available means” to obtain the information has been exhausted.
Seattle Times Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores said the paper strongly opposes the subpoena and “believes it puts our independence, and even our staff’s physical safety, at risk.”
“The media exist in large part to hold governments, including law enforcement agencies, accountable to the public,” said Matassa Flores. “We don’t work in concert with government, and it’s important to our credibility and effectiveness to retain our independence from those we cover.”
The lawyer representing the media companies, Eric Stahl, argued Thursday that the police were casting too wide a net and couldn’t show that the images would identify the suspects.
“You have to have a strong reason to believe there is actually going to be critical evidence” in the images, Stahl said after the hearing. “We think there was too much speculation going on.”
The media companies have not yet decided if they will appeal the case, Stahl said.
Brian Esler, a Seattle attorney hired to represent the Seattle police, did not respond to an interview request.
SPD detective Michael Magan testified at the telephonic hearing Thursday morning that the department was at a dead end in its investigations. Police have arrested two suspects stemming from the thefts and arson, and have partially identified others based on other images.
The May 30 protests included a large-scale nonviolent demonstration sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police earlier that week.
During the protests, vandals heavily damaged six police vehicles. They smashed windows, removed ballistic helmets, uniforms, emergency medical equipment and fire extinguishers, and used an accelerant to start fires in five vehicles, according to a police affidavit and other documents.
A loaded Glock 43 semi-automatic pistol and a loaded Colt M4 carbine rifle with a suppressor remain missing, according to the SPD affidavit.
The SPD subpoena seeks media images taken during a 90-minute span in a four-block area between Fourth and Sixth Avenue and Olive Way to Pike Street that day.
Lee set a hearing for July 30 at 9 a.m. to enter a final order. In the meantime, the parties are discussing how long it would take to produce the unpublished materials.
Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.
The judge placed some limits on the subpoena. He said police could use the images to identify suspects only in the arson and gun theft investigations. Detectives could not use the photos or video to pursue suspects in vandalism or other lesser crimes — even if police found such evidence.
The article was about the Seattle Police Department issuing subpoenas for video evidence of crimes, the feds weren't involved at all.
It looks like the answer to my "why the fuck not" question is because there's a Washington state law that says authorities aren't allowed to obtain unpublished material from reporters, and that judge was only allowing it for the gun theft investigations because it was “critical or necessary” to get the guns off the street. Honestly I guess I can understand that. I'm just a little salty over how much protection the vandals are getting from everyone.
Believe this only prevent them from demanding your footage. They can still go on youtube and help themselves to the hours on end of freely handed out footage. There is a bounty of live stream recording publicly available. I am no lawyer
Just going to be a hammer accident in their case. "Oops, my hammer accidentally smashed the hard drives and SD cards just like what happened with a failed presidential candidate" is going to be their excuse.
The judge placed some limits on the subpoena. He said police could use the images to identify suspects only in the arson and gun theft investigations. Detectives could not use the photos or video to pursue suspects in vandalism or other lesser crimes — even if police found such evidence.
Won't be long before these cities are CCT everywhere like the UK. Facial recognition is also right around the corner. These Marxist terrorists are going to make this shit inevitable.
Portland Andy FTW
Portland Andy great people!
Thank you very much Portland Andy! Thank you very much! These are all great people!
You have to write it in the announcers Indian accent though. Never mind, I have his voice in my head still. Thank you very much! : )
Obviously you didn't read the article.
5th paragraph:
behold, the eye of the beholder
Yup. This means anything they ask for has likely already be deleted.
Good news. All of the agitators and terrorists MUST go to jail. LAW AND ORDER
So, if they delete these images now, it would be obstruction of justice. Correct?
The outlets fighting the the order, yes. Anyone else could do it before receiving and order though.
If they can't come up with a reasonable rationale for deleting it, the court is likely to rule they were attempting to destroy evidence of a crime. A reporter that backs up and saves all their photos and videos - except the ones showing rioters' faces for instance, would likely be found guilty. It's no different than people trying to dodge taxes or fines by shuffling money around before the court orders hit.
Disclaimer: Hawaiian judge types will do their thing no matter what the real laws and precedents are.
Consequences are oppression
Fuck yer paywall assholes
King County Superior Court Judge Nelson Lee sided with the Police Department in a morning hearing, ruling that its subpoena was enforceable. He found that the photos and video were critical for an investigation into the alleged arson of SPD vehicles and theft of police guns.
Lee said the news organizations were not protected by a Washington state shield law that under many circumstances prevents authorities from obtaining reporters’ unpublished materials.
The judge placed some limits on the subpoena. He said police could use the images to identify suspects only in the arson and gun theft investigations. Detectives could not use the photos or video to pursue suspects in vandalism or other lesser crimes — even if police found such evidence.
The subpoena would also be limited to professional camera equipment and would exclude reporters’ cell phone photos and videos.
The Seattle Times and TV stations KIRO 7, KING 5, KOMO 4 and KCPQ 13 were all subpoenaed. Lee ruled that the SPD had met its burden to overcome the shield law: that the images were “highly material and relevant” and “critical or necessary” to prove an issue that has a compelling public interest for its disclosure. Getting the stolen weapons off the street was one compelling public interest, Lee found.
The law also required the police to demonstrate that all “reasonable and available means” to obtain the information has been exhausted.
Seattle Times Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores said the paper strongly opposes the subpoena and “believes it puts our independence, and even our staff’s physical safety, at risk.”
“The media exist in large part to hold governments, including law enforcement agencies, accountable to the public,” said Matassa Flores. “We don’t work in concert with government, and it’s important to our credibility and effectiveness to retain our independence from those we cover.”
The lawyer representing the media companies, Eric Stahl, argued Thursday that the police were casting too wide a net and couldn’t show that the images would identify the suspects.
“You have to have a strong reason to believe there is actually going to be critical evidence” in the images, Stahl said after the hearing. “We think there was too much speculation going on.” The media companies have not yet decided if they will appeal the case, Stahl said.
Brian Esler, a Seattle attorney hired to represent the Seattle police, did not respond to an interview request.
SPD detective Michael Magan testified at the telephonic hearing Thursday morning that the department was at a dead end in its investigations. Police have arrested two suspects stemming from the thefts and arson, and have partially identified others based on other images.
The May 30 protests included a large-scale nonviolent demonstration sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police earlier that week.
During the protests, vandals heavily damaged six police vehicles. They smashed windows, removed ballistic helmets, uniforms, emergency medical equipment and fire extinguishers, and used an accelerant to start fires in five vehicles, according to a police affidavit and other documents.
A loaded Glock 43 semi-automatic pistol and a loaded Colt M4 carbine rifle with a suppressor remain missing, according to the SPD affidavit.
The SPD subpoena seeks media images taken during a 90-minute span in a four-block area between Fourth and Sixth Avenue and Olive Way to Pike Street that day.
Lee set a hearing for July 30 at 9 a.m. to enter a final order. In the meantime, the parties are discussing how long it would take to produce the unpublished materials.
Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.
Mike Reicher: [email protected]; on Twitter: @mreicher.
You need the "Bypass paywalls" extension-
https://github.com/iamadamdev
It's available for Chrome and Firefox and their variants. I can confirm the Firefox version works on Android mobile browser as well.
Thank you for the tip!
Why the fuck not?
They're not federal crimes.
The feds are leaving everything but the arson and gun crimes to the local authorities because they're not the Gestapo they're accused of being.
The article was about the Seattle Police Department issuing subpoenas for video evidence of crimes, the feds weren't involved at all.
It looks like the answer to my "why the fuck not" question is because there's a Washington state law that says authorities aren't allowed to obtain unpublished material from reporters, and that judge was only allowing it for the gun theft investigations because it was “critical or necessary” to get the guns off the street. Honestly I guess I can understand that. I'm just a little salty over how much protection the vandals are getting from everyone.
Believe this only prevent them from demanding your footage. They can still go on youtube and help themselves to the hours on end of freely handed out footage. There is a bounty of live stream recording publicly available. I am no lawyer
Just going to be a hammer accident in their case. "Oops, my hammer accidentally smashed the hard drives and SD cards just like what happened with a failed presidential candidate" is going to be their excuse.
I would not subscribe to any Rag that did not support Justice and stand against rioting.
The judge placed some limits on the subpoena. He said police could use the images to identify suspects only in the arson and gun theft investigations. Detectives could not use the photos or video to pursue suspects in vandalism or other lesser crimes — even if police found such evidence.
I love the spell of precedent in the morning.
Won't be long before these cities are CCT everywhere like the UK. Facial recognition is also right around the corner. These Marxist terrorists are going to make this shit inevitable.
POTUS should start arresting Seattle media personnel who don't cooperate and charge them with aiding and abetting.
Maybe the press can finally be good for something.
DAMMED RIGHT