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  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] update on jailing a reporter
  • Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 05:00:49 -0800

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap12-09-030633.asp?t=apnew&vts=12920040437<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap12-09-030633.asp?t=apnew&vts=12920040437>



Reporter faces prison for refusing to identify source who leaked tape

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Dec. 9 - Three years after airing a secret FBI videotape
showing a city official taking a bribe, television reporter Jim Taricani
faces up to six months in prison for refusing to identify who illegally
leaked him the tape.



Taricani was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court, after being
found guilty last month of criminal contempt. His source, who was identified
in court papers last week, was asked to testify at the hearing. <>


Taricani has asked U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres for less than 30 days of
home confinement because of health concerns. He has a transplanted heart.


The FBI tape, which showed former mayoral aide Frank Corrente taking a $1,000
bribe, was part of a corruption probe that ultimately sent city officials,
including former Mayor Vincent ''Buddy'' Cianci to federal prison.


Less than a week after Taricani was convicted, Providence lawyer Joseph
Bevilacqua Jr. came forward and admitted he leaked the tape. Bevilacqua was
the lawyer for former city tax official Joseph Pannone, who pleaded guilty in
the corruption scandal.


Bevilacqua told prosecutors he never required Taricani to withhold his
identity and that Taricani asked him not to come forward.


Taricani said that is a lie, explaining that Bevilacqua repeatedly insisted
that his identity be kept confidential in numerous conversations during the
last three years - and as recently as the day Taricani stood trial for
contempt.


Special prosecutor Marc DeSisto received permission from the court to call
Bevilacqua to testify at Thursday's sentencing hearing to determine if his
admission that he leaked the tape, and other testimony he gave under oath,
should be factors in the reporter's sentencing.


Bevilacqua's attorney, Thomas Tarro, said he expects Bevilacqua to face some
charge or disciplinary action for releasing the tape.



(MY NOTE : was the tape made for blackmail purposes to begin with ??)


Around the nation, several reporters face possible fines or jail, including
in cases of the leaked identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame and a lawsuit
against the government by nuclear physicist Wen Ho Lee. Taricani would be the
first to be sentenced to serve time.



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



  • [Homestead] update on jailing a reporter, Toni Hawryluk, 12/09/2004

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