Tensions are high in the case, which has alarmed journalism
advocates and put pressure on elected leaders in the politically liberal city
to defend the press.
Authorities believe a police department employee was
involved and had contact with Carmody.
“We believe that that contact and that interaction went
across the line. It went past just doing your job as a journalist,” Scott said.
He added: “This is a big deal to us, as well it should be.
It’s a big deal to the public. It’s a big deal to you all.”
Media organizations across the country criticized the May 10
raids as a violation of California’s shield law, which specifically protects
journalists from search warrants. The Associated Press is among dozens of news
organizations siding with Carmody and seeking to submit a friend-of-the-court
brief.
The case will soon return to court. Carmody’s attorney and
media organizations have asked to unseal warrant materials and revoke the
search warrants. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Samuel Feng has not ruled
yet on those requests, but he set deadlines for further filings.
The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle has
joined other publications in criticizing city leaders, including Mayor London
Breed, for failing to quickly condemn the police actions. A Chronicle
report published Monday named supervisors who have not returned
messages for comment on the raids.
When they arrived at Carmody’s home, police had a
sledgehammer, and they cuffed him for hours. The police chief said Carmody was
cuffed because of the possibility he might have firearms in the house.
Breed initially defended the raids but on Sunday posted messages
on Twitter saying she was “not okay” with raids on reporters.
District Attorney George Gascon, whose office would normally
be responsible for possibly prosecuting Carmody, condemned the police. He said
he has not seen the warrants, which are sealed, but he could not imagine a
situation where warrants would be appropriate.
“Seizing the entire haystack to find the needle risks
violating the confidences Mr. Carmody owes to all his sources, not just the
person who leaked the police report,” he said in a Monday tweet.
The police chief acknowledged the uproar, saying that in
hindsight the department could have done things differently and will strive to
learn from its mistakes.
“We respect the news media,” he said. “We have to own what
we own and move forward, and try to get better at what we do.”
In court documents, Carmody has said he is a veteran
journalist who is often the first on the scene of breaking news. He provides
video news packages to outlets in return for payment.
He said a source gave him a preliminary police report on
Adachi’s death that contained unsavory details. Carmody went on to sell copies
of the report along with video footage from the scene of the death and
information obtained from interviews to three news stations.
The leak infuriated city supervisors. They scolded police
for anonymously releasing the report to the press, saying it was an attempt to
smear the legacy of Adachi, who was an outspoken critic of police. An autopsy
blamed Adachi’s Feb. 22 death on a mixture of cocaine and alcohol that
compromised an already bad heart.
People who want to crack down on journalists come in all
political stripes, said Jim Wheaton, founder of the First Amendment Project, a
public interest law firm.
“They went after him because he’s all by himself,” Wheaton
said. “And the fact that he sells the materials that he packages. He puts
together a journalism report including documents and sells it. That’s what
journalism is.”
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