Prosecutors want judge to order BALCO reporters to divulge sources

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6/21/6 | Bob Egelko

[SmithL]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Federal prosecutors asked a judge today to order two Chronicle reporters to identify their source of grand jury testimony about star athletes' use of performance-enhancing drugs, saying the journalists are the only available sources of the information and have no legal right to withhold it.

"The criminal violations here strike at the very heart of the secrecy of grand jury proceedings and the integrity of the judicial system,'' lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles said in papers arguing for enforcement of subpoenas against the two reporters. They were referring to the illegal disclosure of confidential grand jury material.

The reporters, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, wrote a series of articles in 2004 and a recently published book, "Game of Shadows,'' about the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in Burlingame and the drugs it allegedly supplied to Giants slugger Barry Bonds and other prominent athletes.

The articles and book were based in part on closed-door grand jury testimony by Bonds, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, sprinter Tim Montgomery and other witnesses. Disclosure of their testimony led to a congressional investigation and new steroid testing policies by major league baseball. BALCO's founder, Victor Conte, and three other defendants pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs.

Fainaru-Wada and Williams and the newspaper have declined to identify the source or sources of their information about the grand jury material. The reporters could be held in contempt of court and jailed if they refuse to reveal the information. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 4 on whether to enforce the subpoenas.