2 Photographers Sentenced to Jail

In a case that has highlighted the ongoing war between celebrities and the paparazzi, two photographers who chased Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and newswoman Maria Shriver as they drove their son to a Westside preschool were given jail terms and each fined $500 Monday.

In handing down the sentences, Superior Court Judge Robert T. Altman said he was “offended” by the photographers’ conduct, noting that Schwarzenegger had been recovering from heart surgery, his wife was five months pregnant and their 3-year-old was in the back seat of the car when the pursuit took place on May 1.

He called the defendants’ actions “morally wrong.”

With that, Altman handed down a 90-day jail term to still photographer Andrew O’Brien and ordered video cameraman Giles Harrison to spend 60 days behind bars. The judge also placed the defendants on “informal” probation for two years but allowed them to remain free pending appeal--if they post bail by Wednesday.

O’Brien, 31, and Harrison, 29, were convicted earlier this month on misdemeanor false imprisonment charges after a two-day, nonjury trial. Harrison also was convicted of reckless driving.

At the time of the pursuit, O’Brien and Harrison were working for Splash, a Santa Monica-based news and photo agency founded by British expatriates of London’s Fleet Street tabloids.

Defense attorneys Charles L. Lindner and Martha A. Mansell tried to persuade the judge that what their clients did was no different from how photographers and cameramen for major newspapers and TV networks conduct themselves every day, and cited the massive and often chaotic news coverage given to major stories like O.J. Simpson and, more recently, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

“We are in an era of competitive news gathering,” said Lindner, O’Brien’s attorney. “In terms of what is legally acceptable, all one has to do is turn on television and look at the crush of photographers.”

But while agreeing that “this has been a problem for a long time,” the judge said the public might be justified in getting annoyed at such conduct.

“There may be a problem when celebrities feel they cannot go outside their houses, but I don’t think this is the place to debate this issue,” Altman said. “It’s a very serious 1st Amendment issue. . . . I have no intent of resolving the difference of where society draws the line.”

Before sentencing, Schwarzenegger told a probation officer handling the case that he felt that the two defendants should serve some jail time to deter other photographers from similar behavior.

Outside court, Lindner called the sentences “movie star justice” and argued that the Santa Monica city attorney’s office might never have brought the charges had the victims not been Schwarzenegger, one of the world’s top movie box-office draws, and Shriver, a correspondent for NBC News.

The case comes at a time of heightened tensions between celebrities and the paparazzi. Last summer, after the death of Princess Diana in a Paris traffic accident, some of Hollywood’s top stars, including Tom Cruise, blasted the paparazzi for “stalking” celebrities.

Last week, Cruise filed a police report in Santa Monica alleging that he was followed by three vehicles as he and his young daughter were en route to pick up the actor’s young son at school.

The actor filed the report on the same day that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was announcing a proposed federal law that would outlaw some tactics used by paparazzi.

“It’s kind of convenient he did it on a day that Dianne Feinstein had a [news conference],” Harrison said Monday after the sentencing.