An attempt to seize a Toronto freelance writer's notes has erupted into a court battle pitting journalistic principle against the fate of a man accused of first-degree murder.
Lawyers for Roger Anthony James have served a subpoena on writer Lon Appleby to obtain research behind a 1998 Toronto Life magazine story he wrote that focused on a police investigation into the fatal shooting of Cameron Alkins.
Ten years after the 17-year-old victim was left to die on a laneway in a grotty Toronto subdivision, Mr. James is now hoping that evidence from Mr. Appleby's tape recordings and notebooks could prove him not guilty.
"I want to act in good faith; I don't want to be obstinate," Mr. Appleby said in an interview yesterday. "But I don't want to be seen as protecting the police, or that I am on the cops' side. I am on the side of journalists in protecting access."
Mr. Appleby said he is sympathetic to the plight of an accused man, but the seizing of his notes could chill the relationship between journalists and the sources they depend on when they research in-depth articles and documentaries.
"I feel very uncomfortable being put in this position," Mr. Appleby said. "No journalist should ever have to face a situation where somebody with whom he has built a relationship has information used against them."
Here is a Canadian Journalists for Free Expression news release. An excerpt:
CJFE intervened in a similar case last year, when journalist Derek Finkle won a solid victory against prosecutors who sought to rummage through his private notes relating to the murder trial of Robert Baltovich. The presiding judge in that case, Justice David Watt, said in his decision that the Crown had failed to justify its request with enough specific information and had not proved that material evidence was likely to be produced. "Fishing season is over," he declared.