12/09/08

Detroit reporter refuses to identify sources

By ED WHITE
Associated Press Writer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter on Monday declined to reveal his government sources for a story about a former terrorism prosecutor.

David Ashenfelter of the Detroit Free Press gave his name but otherwise refused to testify during a deposition in a lawsuit filed by former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino against the U.S. Justice Department. He invoked the First Amendment and his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

A federal judge in Detroit had ordered Ashenfelter to submit to the deposition, saying he couldn't cite a reporter's privilege in a civil lawsuit.

The newspaper and Ashenfelter's lawyers have argued he shouldn't have to testify because reporters have a right to protect their sources.

Convertino wants to know who in the U.S. Justice Department supplied information to the newspaper for a 2004 story. His lawyer, Stephen Kohn, has said Justice Department employees leaked unflattering information to the Free Press in retaliation for his client's complaints to Congress about the government's anti-terrorism efforts.

Kohn said he would seek "appropriate relief" from a federal judge. His options include a request to declare Ashenfelter in contempt. He offered no time frame.

"I don't know of any case where a journalist has invoked the Fifth Amendment. ... We don't think there was any basis. Just the fact that it was invoked, I find deeply disturbing," Kohn said.

He said he's not accusing Ashenfelter of "any criminal activity."

Ashenfelter's lawyers, too, do not believe he committed a crime by writing a story. But they said the Fifth Amendment was cited because Convertino has used his Web site to claim the reporter is aiding a government cover-up by not disclosing his sources.

"Despite meeting journalism's highest standards, Ashenfelter is justified in his belief that he could be at risk of prosecution by testifying. For that reason, he has invoked his constitutional right not to do so," Free Press Editor Paul Anger said.

Ashenfelter, 60, declined to comment. Convertino did not attend the deposition.

Convertino handled the first major terrorism trial after 9/11, but the convictions in federal court in Detroit were thrown out because evidence was withheld. He resigned in 2005.

In 2007, Convertino and a U.S. State Department investigator were put on trial for conspiring to hide evidence in the case. They were acquitted.

Kohn said Convertino also was cleared of other alleged misconduct by the Justice Department's watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility. Ashenfelter wrote about the internal probe.

Ashenfelter's past work includes stories that led to a Pulitzer Prize for public service for The Detroit News in 1982.

Anger said journalists need a federal law to protect them from disclosing confidential sources.