Local News in Brief : Photographer in Contempt
A Times intern photographer was cited for contempt Thursday when he refused to answer a question while testifying in Long Beach Municipal Court, but an indefinite jail sentence and $100-a-day fine were stayed pending an appeal.
Judge Elvira S. Austin cited Roberto Santiago Bertero a day after Times reporter Roxana Kopetman spent several hours in a courthouse lockup after a similar contempt citation. Kopetman was released on $1,000 bail, and her appeal, scheduled to be heard Thursday, was reset for Dec. 16 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Bertero’s case will also be heard then.
Testifying in the case of a man accused of misdemeanor possession of brass knuckles, Kopetman and Bertero refused to answer a prosecutor’s question as to whether police officers asked the man for permission to search his jacket.
Attorneys for The Times said Kopetman and Bertero are protected from having to testify by the state newspaper shield law and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Austin ruled, however, that a criminal defendant’s fair trial rights take precedence over press freedom rights.
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