CBS News producer Mary Mapes avoided being sent to jail last week when the network agreed to publish on the Internet the transcript of an interview done by anchor Dan Rather for 60 Minutes II with a man now on trial for a racially charged dragging death in Jasper, Texas. Releasing the information fulfilled the court's demand for the transcripts; which was made with the threat of putting Mapes in jail. Explaining the move, CBS President Andrew He...
Broadcasting & Cable; 11/15/1999
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Judge orders producer jailed in dragging-death case
By C. BRYSON HULL
The Associated Press
JASPER - A judge again ordered a CBS News producer jailed Tuesday after finding her in contempt for failing to hand over videotape outtakes of an interview with dragging-death defendant Shawn Allen Berry.
State District Judge Joe Bob Golden postponed the effective date of his ruling, however, until after Thursday, when an appellate court considers an earlier contempt ruling against CBS producer Mary Mapes.
It was the second time in five days that Golden ordered the producer jailed for not turning over materials related to the Berry interview.
Mapes' attorneys argued unsuccessfully that she never had possession or control of the videotapes of an interview between anchor Dan Rather and Berry, which aired Sept. 28 on "60 Minutes II."
"You could relieve yourself of ever having to come back to Jasper if your employers would let go of what they seem to have some kind of grip on," Golden told Mapes.
On Friday, Golden held Mapes in contempt for failing to produce a transcript of the complete interview, which she testified she had at her Dallas home. The 9th Texas Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay to that order, pending arguments from both sides Thursday.
It is not clear if the appellate court also will consider the latest contempt finding Thursday.
Charles Babcock, Mapes' attorney, said he was considering a second appeal to the Beaumont appeals court on the videotape issue.
"The issue today was whether or not . . . under Texas law she can be held in contempt for failing to produce something she does not have and has never had. I think the law is clear," Babcock said.
Jasper County District Attorney Guy James Gray characterized Mapes' testimony Tuesday and last week as "evasive."
"There is absolutely no doubt there has been a clear pattern of contempt for this trial, for Jasper County and for this particular court," Gray said.
The Mapes issue has taken center stage in the Berry trial. Jury selection continued Tuesday, and testimony is expected to begin next week.
Prosecutors want to compare Berry's statements to Rather with others he gave during the investigation into the June 7, 1998, death of James Byrd Jr.
Mapes' attorneys argued that compelling the network to provide unaired material violates First Amendment protections for the media and could compromise journalists' ability to report the news. They also accused the prosecution of "fishing" for evidence.
Gray countered that jurors should he able to hear the interviews when deciding between life and death for Berry.
"This is a question of character, of what's right and wrong. This is a capital murder case. It's as serious as a heart attack, and everybody ought to try and do what is right," Gray said.
Mapes said the last time she saw the videotapes was when Rather left Jasper for New York after the Sept. 18 interview at the Jasper County Sheriff's Department.
Asked why the prosecution did not make its own tape of the interview, Gray responded, "We weren't smart enough. We should have been right there."
Prosecutors moved to have Rather and a custodian of records at CBS News subpoenaed. A hearing is scheduled Thursday before a New York judge who must decide whether to issue the subpoenas, which CBS has vowed to fight.
What effect a New York ruling will have on Mapes' situation is not yet known, Babcock said.
"I would hope that if the New York court rules that the tapes are protected and that CBS does not have to produce them, that Mary Mapes, who does not have possession of these tapes, would not be committed to jail as some sort of ransom for the tapes," Babcock said.
Berry is the third and final defendant charged with Byrd's murder. Berry's co-defendants, John W. King and Lawrence Brewer, were convicted and sentenced to death in separate trials earlier this year. All three are white, and Byrd, 49, was black.
If convicted, Berry faces either a life sentence or death by injection.
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