Jailed Blogger Goes Free

Posted on Apr 4, 2007

sfgate.com

After spending 7 1/2 months in jail, longer than anyone else in a modern journalism rights case, blogger Josh Wolf reached a deal with prosecutors and was set free Tuesday. Wolf turned over unedited video of WTO protesters and, in exchange, was excused from identifying the individuals shown in the footage. He said he proposed the same deal in November but was turned down.

San Francisco Chronicle:

Josh Wolf, the blogger whose record 7 1/2 months in federal prison stirred debate about who qualifies as a journalist and what legal protections journalists should receive, was freed Tuesday after releasing video footage sought by prosecutors about an anarchist protest.

Wolf, 24, held in contempt by a federal judge last August for defying a grand jury subpoena, walked out of the federal prison in Dublin [Calif.] at mid-afternoon after his lawyers and federal prosecutors reached a compromise during a mediation session Monday before a federal magistrate.

Wolf posted the uncut video on his Web site, gave prosecutors a copy and denied under oath that he knew anything about violent incidents at the July 2005 protest. In return, his lawyers said, prosecutors agreed not to summon him before the grand jury or ask him to identify any of the protesters shown on his video.

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