Countywide : Grand Jury Seeks Ruling on Reporter
The Ventura County grand jury has asked a Superior Court judge to decide whether a Los Angeles Times free-lance reporter must answer questions about her dealings with a Ventura woman accused of criminal forgery charges.
After an hourlong closed hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Edwin M. Osborne ordered all participants in the case not to discuss it.
Reporter Caitlin Rother was called before the grand jury Tuesday. Rother had been subpoenaed to answer questions about a story that she had written about Scarlett O’Casey.
The story, published Nov. 9, reported on O’Casey’s filing of a conflict-of-interest charge against a county employee. Investigators have said the claim was false.
The district attorney’s office last month charged O’Casey with forging documents to support her claim.
Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles R. Roberts Sr., who is prosecuting O’Casey and took the case to the grand jury, said that under the law, he could not discuss any matter pending before the grand jury.
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