Journalist Begins Jail Term in Legal Dispute

A country journalist who refused to disclose his sources began a five-day jail sentence Saturday for contempt of court, led into custody by a sheriff’s sergeant who patted him down as friends, colleagues and reporters watched.

“I’m at peace,” Tim Crews, 57, said moments before he entered the gated enclosure at the rear of the Tehama County Jail, about 220 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Crews, the publisher, editor and lead reporter of the semiweekly Sacramento Valley Mirror in Glenn County, kissed and hugged his tearful longtime companion, Donna Settle, and waved to a knot of onlookers as he passed through the gate.

A deputy said Crews was expected to be placed in the jail’s minimum-security wing, which has dormitory-style quarters.

Late Friday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said it would review the issues in the case, but declined to block Crews’ incarceration.

Earlier, Superior Court Judge Noel Watkins ordered Crews jailed, indicating that the journalist’s refusal to divulge his sources for a story on weapons theft had jeopardized the defendant’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

Crews, in a story based on unidentified sources, reported that officials had long been aware of allegations that former California Highway Patrol Officer Dewey Anderson stole a handgun from a county drug enforcement unit. Anderson has been ordered to stand trial, and his attorneys seek Crews’ sources in connection with the case.

Crews reported to custody shortly after 8 a.m., dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt and hiking boots. He walked to the jail accompanied by Settle, a newspaper colleague and his attorney, Ron McIver.

The 9th Circuit was the fourth court to refuse to overturn Crews’ contempt sentence. During the past week, a state appellate court, the state Supreme Court and a lower federal court refused review.

The appeals court, however, has scheduled briefings to consider issues in the case, McIver said.