People v. Wolf
| Decision Date | 08 June 1972 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. In the Matter of the Petitioners' motion to quash a subpoena directed to Daniel WOLF and the Village Voice, Inc., Petitioners-Appellants. Association of American Publishers, Inc., Amicus Curiae. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
M. R. Juviler, New York City, for respondent.
V. A. Kovner, New York City, for petitioners-appellants.
M. C. Berger, New York City, for amicus curiae.
Before STEVENS, P.J., and MARKEWICH, MURPHY and TILZER, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County, 69 Misc.2d 256, 329 N.Y.S.2d 291, entered on February 7, 1972, denying petitioners' motion for an order quashing a subpoena duces tecum served by the District Attorney of New York County, unanimously affirmed, without costs and without disbursements.
We believe that the motion to quash was properly denied. The subpoena merely sought the production of the original signed manuscript of an article which was in fact published in the Village Voice and which was clearly attributed to Ricardo DeLeon. As such, we are not confronted with the question of whether the First Amendment is applicable to a resporter's claim of privilege to withhold secret information or facts indicating the identity of the source. And, in any event, even if the First Amendment be held to confer upon the journalist a privilege to withhold confidential communications or protect secret sources, such would not constitute an absolute ban to production of any and all materials. The privilege could be successfully asserted only after balancing the competing private and public interests (see Barenblatt v. United States, 360 U.S. 109, 126, 79 S.Ct. 1081, 3 L.Ed.2d 1115; Garland v. Torre, 259 F.2d 545 (2d Cir. 1958), cert. den. 358 U.S. 910, 79 S.Ct. 237, 3 L.Ed.2d 221). Th argument that production of the materials herein sought would dry up news sources and have a chilling effect upon future dissemination of news is, particularly under these extraordinary facts, too remote to justify overriding the competing and compelling public interest in the fair administration of justice.
Nor do we believe that enforcement of the subpoena is violative of Civil Rights Law 79--h. That section merely protects the journalist 'for refusing or failing to disclose any news or the source of any such news . . ..' But, as stated, the information sought by the subpoena has been published and the...
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