• by Ray Schultz , November 8, 2023

A California appeals court has dismissed contempt charges against the Bakerfield Californian, but ruled that the newspaper must hand over a reporter’s notes pertaining to a murder case. 

The case concerns murder charges against Robert Pernell Roberts and Sebastian Parra.  

The Bakerfield Californian interviewed Parra, who had testified against Roberts in a preliminary hearing about the killing of Benny Alcala, Jr. and was also later charged with the crime. Roberts subpoenaed the newspaper for those notes.  

The newspaper unsuccessfully tried to quash the subpoena and a Kern County court judged it in contempt for disobeying an order to produce the material. 

On Tuesday, Justice Rosendo Peña Jr., of the Court of Appeals of the State of California, Fifth Appellate District, ruled that the contempt judgment was procedurally defective. 

But he ordered the interview notes handed over to Roberts, writing that while “this case presents a novel fact pattern, the California Supreme Court declared in 1990 that ‘a newsperson’s protection under the shield law must yield to a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial when the newsperson’s refusal to disclose information would unduly infringe on that right.’"

Pena also wrote, “In its briefing on the motion to quash, the Newspaper described the subpoenaed material as both 'extremely sensitive' and 'confidential.' If the Newspaper genuinely held this belief, it should have been arguing for rather than against in camera review of the material.” 

According to the Courthouse News Service, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 22 media organizations filed a brief supporting the Californian.