 New
York, December 9, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced
the sentence imposed today on local Rhode Island television reporter Jim
Taricani, who was ordered to spend the next six months under house arrest
for refusing to reveal who leaked him an FBI surveillance tape.
Taricani, an investigative reporter with the NBC-owned affiliate station,
WJAR-TV, in Providence, Rhode Island, will begin serving his sentence
immediately and will only be free to leave his house to visit the doctor
or for a medical emergency. He has also been barred from accessing the
Internet during his arrest and cannot make any public statements, according
to WJAR. Under the law, Taricani could have been sentenced to a maximum
of six months in prison.
"The Committee to Protect Journalists believes that journalists should
never be imprisoned for their work. While Jim Taricani will not spend
any time in prison, this sentence is a form of incarceration that will
deny him his freedom just for doing his job," said CPJ Executive Director
Ann Cooper.
The sentence came despite the fact that the source for the leaked tape
has come forward after the court found Taricani in criminal contempt.
Background
On November 18, 2004, a federal judge held Taricani in criminal contempt
of court for refusing to reveal who leaked him an FBI surveillance tape
that was evidence in a municipal corruption trial.
Taricani was served with a subpoena after WJAR broadcast a portion of
the surveillance tape in 2001 showing a municipal official, Frank E. Corrente,
accepting a bribe from an FBI undercover agent. The tape was sealed under
court order at the time. Corrente, along with the former Providence Mayor,
Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr., were later convicted of corruption.
Taricani was held in civil contempt of court on March 16, 2003, by U.S.
District Judge Ernest C. Torres, who imposed a daily $1,000 fine, which
was stayed pending Taricani's appeal. His lawyers took the case to the
U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit in Boston, where he lost on April
12 and was ordered to start paying the pay the fine. Taricani's fines
totaled $85,000, and NBC reimbursed him.
Judge Torres stayed the fines on November 4, because they had not induced
Taricani to reveal his source. The judge then gave the journalist another
two weeks to either name his source or face criminal sanction. On November
18, Judge Torres held Taricani in criminal contempt of court, although
the federal judge gave the journalist another three weeks before sentencing
him, presumably to give the journalist more time to consider his options.
Taricani is the recipient of a heart transplant, and Judge Torres has
said during deliberations that Taricani's heart condition is the main
reason he has been reluctant to order the journalist to jail.
Since then, Taricani's source who leaked him the FBI surveillance tape,
Joseph Bevilacqua, has testified in court that he was the source for the
tape. Bevilacqua was the defense attorney for another municipal official,
Joseph Pannone, who later pleaded guilty in the municipal corruption case.
Bevilacqua, is expected to face criminal sanctions for violating court
orders and leaking the tape to Taricani. Only after Bevilacqua came forward
did Taricani admit that the lawyer was the source for the FBI surveillance
tape.
The two men have publicly disagreed whether Bevilacqua asked Taricani
not to reveal his identity as the source of the tape.
|
