True North

Like a lot of other 2nd Amendment advocates, I have been following the Martin Treptow case quite closely through the pages of Shot In The Dark and Joel Rosenberg's Live Journal. For those of you that want a quick rundown on the case see Joel's post here.

OK - now that you are up to speed on the basics of the case, it took a rather bizarre turn this week. It seems that 7 years ago, Mrs. Treptow was involved in another traffic incident. Tom Lyden, Investigative Reporter for Fox 9 News, wanted to get some details of the encounter and instead ended up with his own close encounter with St. Paul's finest.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher says St. Paul police officials improperly obtained the cell phone records of Fox-9 news reporter Tom Lyden as part of an investigation that involved a sheriff's department employee.

The case is a big media deal because Minnesota's shield law protects reporters and their sources; news organizations have the right to challenge any law enforcement request in court. However, the St. Paul police did an end run: they went after a third party — Lyden's cell phone provider — with an "administrative subpoena" which does not need to be disclosed to the reporter or media organization.

"They have basically opened up my reporter's notebook. They have basically looked at my notes, they have looked at sources, they have looked at people I have tried to protect," Lyden told fellow investigative reporter Trish Van Pilsum for a Fox-9 story that aired Tuesday...

Fox says police Public Information Officer Tom Walsh denied a request for the criminal history; the sheriff's office gave Lyden the document, ruling it was public. (Walsh refused comment, citing an open investigation into the case.)

Minnesota has a "Shield Law" that protects journalists from this kind of police over-reaching. What is worse is HOW the SPPD got Mr. Lyden's data.

...Fletcher alleges St. Paul police:

· Submitted a "false affidavit" to get phone records.

· Opened a criminal investigation to "deflect" civil liability police feared due to the records' release.

· Engaged in a conflict of interest by investigating his office as the aggrieved party, rather than referring the matter to a neutral third party.

· Pursued the inquiry in part because of animus between police commander David Korus and sheriff's office director Steve Lydon, plus Walsh's "distain" [sic] for Lyden.

The charge that is most frightening to me is the first.....filing a false affidavit to get the phone records. The St. Paul PD obviously knew that what they were doing was wrong - otherwise they would have gone through the correct process to get the subpeona. The fact that they didn't give Fox 9 and Mr. Lyden an opportunity to fight for their rights, shows just how aware that actions they were engaging in were wrong.

With the RNC Convention coming into town next year, the last thing we need is a scandal like this where both delegates and protesters are afraid that the police are looking at their phone records without proper warrants.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic where your comments are welcome.