Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times, who have been held in contempt for refusing to testify about their confidential sources, filed court papers yesterday asking to be sentenced to home confinement or to particular federal prisons if they must be jailed. Time Inc. also filed a brief statement saying it had complied with a grand jury subpoena by supplying documents to the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Mr. Fitzgerald is looking into the possibly unlawful disclosure of the identity of a covert C.I.A. operative, Valerie Plame. The documents held by Time disclose the identities of Mr. Cooper's confidential sources and the substance of what they told him, Mr. Cooper has said. Their release gives the reporters some fresh arguments in their efforts to avoid jail. In October, Judge Thomas F. Hogan of Federal District Court in Washington held the reporters and the magazine in civil contempt. He ordered the reporters jailed and the magazine fined but suspended the sanctions while they pursued appeals. On Monday, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case. On Wednesday, Judge Hogan indicated that he would send the reporters to jail for up to 120 days and impose large fines on Time Inc. as soon as next Wednesday. Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, announced on Thursday that it would comply with the subpoena for the documents. Mr. Cooper, who opposed the disclosure of the documents and continues to refuse to comply with a subpoena calling for his testimony, argued that "the nature and volume of the materials released" should render his testimony "duplicative and unnecessary." One of Mr. Cooper's lawyers, Richard A. Sauber, said, "We are very hopeful that Mr. Fitzgerald will drop his demand for Matt's testimony after reviewing the documents provided to him by Time magazine." Ms. Miller's lawyers have voiced similar hopes in recent days. Mr. Cooper asked not to be sent to the default facility for people held in civil contempt in Washington, the District of Columbia jail. "Confinement in the D.C. jail," Mr. Cooper's lawyers wrote, "would subject Mr. Cooper, a non-violent, non-criminal journalist, to a dangerous maximum security lockup already overcrowded with a mix of convicted offenders and other detainees awaiting criminal trials." Mr. Cooper asked to be sent to the federal prison camp in Cumberland, Md., if home confinement is not an option. Mr. Cooper attached nine letters from family members and friends. They emphasized that he acted from principle and that jail time for Mr. Cooper would be very hard on his 6-year-old son, Ben. In her papers, Ms. Miller argued that it was pointless to imprison her because she will never talk. She provided Judge Hogan with letters from soldiers with whom she was embedded during the war in Iraq attesting to that. Ms. Miller asked for "very restrictive home detention" if confinement is required, including an electronic bracelet and excluding Internet access and cellular phones. In the alternative, she asked to be sent to the federal prison camp for women in Danbury, Conn. Mr. Fitzgerald will respond to the papers on Tuesday, and Judge Hogan has scheduled a hearing to consider the issues on Wednesday.
Reporters Facing Jail Time Submit Preferences
by Adam Liptak
The New York Times
July 2, 2005
https://judithmiller.com/540/reporters-facing-jail-time-submit-preferences
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