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The State - News from Sept. 1, 1989

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Two staffers for Fresno television station KFSN were fined $500 each for refusing to testify about what they saw during a drug raid in Hanford, but the judge stayed the fines pending an appeal. Kings County Juvenile Judge Louis Bissig found newswoman Juanita Stevenson and cameraman Curt Rybaczyk in contempt, and the case is expected to be consolidated with similar cases that the California Supreme Court has been asked to hear. Stevenson and Rybaczyk based their refusals to testify on California’s shield law, which bars courts from holding news reporters in contempt for refusing to disclose confidential sources or turn over notes.

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