Another subpoena
As I blogged in the not-so-distant past, I got a subpoena to appear as a witness in a criminal trial. That issue went away nicely because my boss called the defendant (who was acting as his own attorney) and got him to agree to drop the subpoena. A judge soon quashed a bunch of other subpoenas he'd sent out to a rather extraordinary list of people. The case has been postponed because the guy supposedly has an attorney now, and I'm almost positive that I won't be subpoenaed in that case again.Yesterday rolled around, and a new subpoena arrived. This one didn't name me, but instead just wanted bunches of articles about certain crimes. It was broad and was apparently sent to other media; I know our main competition got it, and it was generic enough to include TV people, too.
Issuing a subpoena to a newspaper, asking for articles printed, is extremely stupid and shows just how lazy the attorney is -- especially since our archives are online and can be searched easily. There are reasons attorneys get paid well, and there are reasons they hire investigators. Since when did attorneys start demanding things that are already public? They might as well subpoena the library, which also keeps newspaper archives.
I won't say the attorney's name, but suffice it to say that I feel sorry for the defendant, because he's obviously got insufficient counsel. It doesn't help that the case against him comes with a very stiff penalty, and that he's also facing even heavier charges in another county when he gets done with this trial.
Posted by Layla at 10:17 PM, July 22, 2005
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