Photo Leads Officials to Seize Campus Paper

East Los Angeles College officials confiscated nearly all copies of the campus newspaper Wednesday at the urging of college lawyers worried about a front-page photo revealing a possible witness in a murder investigation.

“At this point, the newspapers are being held on the advice of the Sheriff’s Department and our legal counsel,” said Daniel Ornelas, dean of student development and services.

The Sheriff’s Department disputed that it called for pulling the weekly newspaper from the stands two days after student Joseph Robert Gallegos, 20, was fatally shot Monday in the college parking lot. He died at a hospital the same day.

The seizure of 4,000 copies of the East Los Angeles College Campus News infuriated student reporters, editors and a journalism professor/advisor who consider the act a violation of the newspaper’s policies and their 1st Amendment rights.

“The [college] district does not have the right to pull an edition because they don’t like something in it,” said journalism professor Jean Stapleton, who is the campus newspaper advisor. “This is a prior restraint issue.”

The issue surfaced when the Campus News ran a front-page story Wednesday about the slaying, along with photos of its aftermath.

Gallegos, a student studying justice administration, was getting off a bus with his fiancee and her two children Monday when a gunman emerged from a small brown hatchback in the college parking lot and began asking Gallegos about his gang affiliation, sheriff’s deputies said.

As the two started fighting, the attacker pulled out a small revolver and shot Gallegos twice in the upper torso, deputies said. The shooter fled in the car, reportedly driven by a young woman.

Diana Casillas, a Campus News staff writer, interviewed witnesses at the scene. Staff photographer Kim Matthews snapped pictures.

One of three front-page photos published Wednesday shows deputies surrounding Gallegos’ fiancee. In the background of the grainy photo is the partly concealed face of another student.

That student confirmed to Casillas that she was a witness but declined to be interviewed, the reporter said. Campus News staffers believe the student told authorities she feared that having her picture in the paper could place her in danger.

After consulting with college attorneys and the Sheriff’s Department, Ornelas seized most of the newspapers from the racks without informing the editors.

“The Sheriff’s Department said the newspaper may jeopardize their investigation,” Ornelas said. “The shooter is still out there and has not been apprehended yet.”

Lt. Dan Rosenberg, a homicide team leader, disagreed that sheriff’s investigators asked for the newspapers to be pulled from circulation.

“I feel safe that it was not at the request of the Sheriff’s Department,” he said. Still, he said, there may be cases in which such an action is warranted. “If there is an issue of where someone’s life is in danger, such as a witness to a murder before we can talk to them, that can be a pretty touchy issue.”

But professor Stapleton said the administration’s decision violates its own “Statement of Policy” for the Campus News, which delegates news decisions to the editor in chief.

It also runs contrary to the Campus News’ regular Page 2 statement that “the editorial and advertising materials are free from prior restraint by virtue of the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Assn., agreed that the confiscation may have violated the newspaper’s 1st Amendment rights.

“If the newspaper is an independent or stand-alone publication affiliated with the college, this is wrong,” Ewert said. “The 1st Amendment protects the publication of facts. Nothing indicates that there is anything inaccurate or that the person’s welfare is threatened.”

The newspaper’s disclaimer also points out that the Campus News is published as a learning experience.

Editor in Chief Juan Aceves said he was disappointed to learn how authorities handled this matter.

“The Sheriff’s Department is wrong in trying to scare our administration into thinking everyone’s lives are in danger because of this picture. The administration is wrong for taking our papers without talking to us.

“This is a big, important story. And we report the news to our students and our community.”