For Immediate Release: August 1, 2006

Grand Jury Resistance Project

Contact: Kris Hermes 510-836-0395

Independent Journalist Jailed for Resisting Grand Jury Subpoena

Federal judge denies constitutional arguments -- incarceration based on non-existent

damage to SFPD vehicle

San Francisco -- Independent journalist Josh Wolf was jailed today for refusing to

provide video footage to a federal grand jury convened in January. U.S. District Court

Judge William Alsup denied Wolf's First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment arguments,

found him in civil contempt, and ordered him immediately jailed. Wolf, 24, was taken to

the Dublin federal detention center, and could remain there until July 2007, for the

duration of the grand jury.

Wolf was present at, and reporting on, a protest on July 8, 2005, in the Mission district

against the Group of 8 (G8), meeting in Scotland at the time. Numerous witnesses at the

demonstration reported that a police vehicle was driven into the crowd of protesters.

This action was followed by two police officers exiting the vehicle and violently

assaulting multiple people on the street. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Finigan is

supposedly seeking video footage for what the government claims is attempted arson on a

San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) vehicle. However, no damage has ever been reported

by SFPD.

"It's outrageous that the court is compelled to jail someone, let alone a journalist,

over an incident that involved no property damage or harm to anyone," said Kris Hermes of

the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition in support of Wolf and activists

being harassed by the government. "Wolf's incarceration has an undeniable chilling effect

on his work, the work of other journalists, and people wanting to speak out against U.S.

policies."

Activists and Lawyers supporting Wolf have contended that this grand jury is an attempt

to avoid California?s strict Reporter Shield Law, which protects journalists? files and

notes. "Local police could be investigating this incident, but they're not," continued

Hermes. "the federal government absurdly asserts that this incident rises to the level of

a federal crime because SFPD receives federal funds." Although similar shield laws exist

in a majority of the state, no federal shield law exists to protect reporters.

At the close of today's hearing, Judge Alsup abruptly denied Wolf's request for bail.

Alsup also denied a motion by Wolf's attorney, Jose Luis Fuentes, to stay the

incarceration until an attempt to overturn the contempt ruling could be heard by the U.S.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later in the day, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

were due to vote on a resolution introduced by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Tom Ammiano

aimed at ?resisting the federal government?s intervention in the City and County of San

Francisco?s investigation of the July 8th, 2005 G-8 protest and expressing support for

the California Shield Law.? The Supervisors charge that the grand jury is an ?attempt to

circumvent the local judicial system,? and they opposed federal government intervention

in this matter. The resolution was sent to committee and will be heard within the next

two weeks.

Wolf?s experience with the federal government and this grand jury is not isolated, and

comes as dozens of journalists and activists across the country are being threatened with

indictments and jail time. ?The U.S. government?s harassment of Josh Wolf is part of a

broader, renewed use of the federal grand jury to suppress dissent,? said Samantha Levens

of the GJRP. In May, Jeff Hogg, a full-time nursing student who works with

developmentally disabled adults in Eugene, Oregon, was jailed for refusing to comply with

a federal grand jury investigating environmental and animal rights activists. In San

Francisco, a federal grand jury has recently been reconvened to investigate the animal

liberation movement. Many activists refused to testify for the previous grand jury that

expired in May. However, new subpoenas to appear in August have been served on multiple

animal rights activists.

Information compiled by the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition that

provides education on politically motivated attacks by government and support to people

targeted by these attacks, shows that grand juries are currently being used against

environmental and animal rights activists, as well as groups that have historically

struggled for self-determination. The GJRP reports that in the past year, at least 66

individuals have been subpoenaed and/or indicted in Atlanta, Denver, Eugene, Sacramento,

San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa, FL, and Trenton, NJ. At least fourteen people have

refused to testify, and some were jailed for contempt. In an affidavit filed in

connection with the indictment of three environmental activists in Auburn, CA, the FBI

irrelevantly referenced ?anarchists? and ?anarchism? 26 times. GJRP believes that the

grand jury to which Josh Wolf has been subpoenaed is part of the same broad and

unconstitutional federal investigation into anarchist and antiwar activity and other

political movements that oppose U.S. policies.

For further information on Josh Wolf and his case: http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury