06/12/08

6 Pa. news outlets subpoenaed in grand jury probe

By MARTHA RAFFAELE
Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Lawyers for casino owner Louis DeNaples on Wednesday subpoenaed 15 journalists from six Pennsylvania news organizations to testify at a court hearing to determine whether the secrecy of a grand jury investigation of DeNaples was violated.

The subpoenas were targeted at reporters who covered the monthslong investigation that culminated in state police charging DeNaples with four counts of perjury Jan. 30. The hearing into whether grand jury secrecy requirements were violated was ordered last month by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Sprague & Sprague, a Philadelphia law firm that is part of DeNaples' legal team, served reporters from The Associated Press; The Philadelphia Inquirer; the Philadelphia Daily News; The Morning Call in Allentown; The Citizens' Voice in Wilkes-Barre; and the owner-operator of Roxbury News, a Harrisburg-based, independent broadcasting company.

The subpoena received by Harrisburg AP writer Marc Levy said he was being summoned to testify at a June 30 hearing in Dauphin County Court in Harrisburg. It instructed him to bring any documents including notes, interoffice communications, calendars, e-mails and telephone records related to the probe.

"We are reviewing the subpoenas and will rely on the protections afforded by state and federal law," said Gayle Sproul, a Philadelphia attorney who represents the AP and the Morning Call.

Reporters in Pennsylvania have traditionally been allowed to guard the identities of confidential sources under the state's "shield law," said Teri Henning, attorney for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
DeNaples owns the Mount Airy Resort Casino in the Pocono Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania. He is accused of lying to investigators for the state Gaming Control Board about his relationships with four men -- two reputed mobsters and two men at the center of a political corruption scandal in Philadelphia -- to win a $50 million slot-machine gambling license.

A wealthy Scranton-area political donor whose business interests also include banking and landfills, DeNaples has been suspended from exercising any control over the casino pending the outcome of the criminal case. The $412 million casino, which opened last fall, is being run by a state-appointed trustee.

One of his longtime friends, the Rev. Joseph F. Sica, also faces a perjury charge for allegedly lying in his grand jury testimony about his relationship with a mobster.

Defense attorneys have complained that stories about the grand jury investigation circulated in the news media for months while the secret panel was meeting.

Grand jury proceedings are secret and state law bars prosecutors, court officials or jurors from discussing a grand jury investigation. Witnesses are not barred from discussing their testimony outside the courtroom, however.

Last month, the state Supreme Court refused a request by DeNaples' lawyers to throw out the grand jury's recommendations that criminal charges be filed against DeNaples and Sica. But the justices ordered Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover, who oversaw the grand jury, to determine whether its secrecy was compromised.

Performing effectively as government watchdogs means that reporters occasionally must rely on confidential sources to report on sensitive matters, said Henning, the newspaper association attorney.

"Certain sources may cease to be sources if they have a real concern about being disclosed," Henning said. "There are also concerns with making the media, which serve a role very distinct from government, an arm of the government."

Ted Chylack, an attorney at Sprague & Sprague, said "the subpoenas speak for themselves" and said the firm would not have any further comment.

The subpoenas in the DeNaples case come as the state Supreme Court is considering whether a newspaper reporter must reveal the identity of a source used in a story about a grand jury investigation into alleged prison brutality.

In that case, the court agreed to hear an appeal by two former Lackawanna County commissioners in connection with a libel suit they filed against a reporter and her former employer, The Times-Tribune of Scranton. They were sued over a January 2004 story that said the commissioners were "considerably less than cooperative" in their appearances before the grand jury in the brutality case.