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A handful of local media outlets to turn over raw video footage and still photos taken during a late-May protest to the Seattle Police Department. With the outlets now asking the state Supreme Court to intervene, former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna weighed in on how the court might rule in the days ahead.

Judge grants pause on SPD subpoena for media footage of protest

“If a judge is persuaded that the information is both highly material and relevant and isn’t available from another source … I think they’re going to order the news outlets to hand it over,” McKenna told Dave Ross on Seattle’s Morning News.

This originally began with a subpoena from SPD to identify suspects in an arson and a firearm theft, where King County Superior Court Judge Nelson Lee gave the Seattle Times, KING 5, ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ 7, KOMO, and Q13 until Aug. 21 to hand over their footage.

A recent filing from the media outlets asks the state Supreme Court to put a pause on Judge Lee’s ruling until the case is resolved in a lower appeals court.

The outlets, McKenna describes, are looking for protection afforded by a law he actually helped craft when he was still the state’s Attorney General, called the Washington Shield Law.

“It’s a law that first of all, is designed to protect confidential sources that the media relies on in their reporting,” McKenna described. “But secondly, it’s designed to protect media outlets from fishing expeditions by law enforcement agencies that want them to turn over their notes, their outtakes, photographs, video clips, you name it.”

There are also exceptions built into the law, that say “a court may compel disclosure of the news or information if it finds that the information is needed in a criminal investigation … where there’s no other source for that information.”

Councilmember: SPD compelling media to hand over footage is ‘abhorrent’

“At the same time, whether it’s a criminal investigation or civil action, the news or information that the police or another agency are trying to obtain has to be highly material and relevant here,” McKenna said. “The TV stations and the Seattle Times are arguing that the police don’t need this footage and don’t need these photographs.”

Police do have security camera footage from that protest, but have said that it isn’t definitive enough to identify potential suspects.

“Those grainy black and white security camera videos often aren’t very useful,” McKenna pointed out.

Ultimately, it will be up to SPD to prove in court that the footage and photos are necessary resources to its investigation.

“We recognize sometimes there are imperatives in a criminal proceeding or civil action that require the information to be turned over, and in those cases, the party seeking the disclosure, like the police department, has to meet that standard — it’s not automatic.”

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