For Immediate Release August 31, 2006

Ninth Circuit Grants Bail for Jailed Journalist Josh Wolf

Lawyers Guild Hopeful, Strong Free Speech Decision Possible

Contact Carlos Villarreal at 415-285-5067 x 10

or Dan Siegel at 510-839-1200 x 4

SAN FRANCISCO - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted bail today to

Josh Wolf - the independent journalist and blogger who was jailed August 1st

for refusing to turn over video footage to a federal grand jury.

Press Conference

Friday, September 1 at 1 p.m.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Building

95 Seventh Street in San Francisco

Speakers: Josh Wolf, Attorney Dan Siegel of Siegel & Yee, Carlos Villarreal

of the National Lawyers Guild

Since Wolf's jailing a number of organizations besides the National Lawyers

Guild have voiced support for Wolf and condemnation of the Federal

Government. This month the Society For Professional Journalists made a

donation of $30,000 to his defense. The ACLU and the Reporters Committee for

Freedom of the Press have both filed amicus curiae on behalf of Wolf. The

San Francisco Board of Supervisors, led by Ross Mirkarimi and Tom Ammiano,

also adopted a resolution this month urging the passage of a Federal Shield

Law and condemning the federal government's actions in the Wolf case. The

resolution charges that the grand jury is an "attempt to circumvent the

local judicial system," since the crime being investigated involves an

alleged attack on a San Francisco police car.

"This provides some vindication and we are cautiously optimistic about what

the Ninth Circuit will ultimately decide," said Carlos Villarreal, Executive

Director of the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area. "We are

hopeful that the justices are going to consider the importance of a free and

independent media, especially when journalists are covering free speech

activities."

Josh Wolf was ordered in contempt by Federal Judge William Alsup on August

1st. The US Attorney's Office, led by Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey

Finigan, wants Wolf to testify before a federal grand jury and hand over a

video tape of a protest that occurred in San Francisco's Mission District

last July.

Court documents and past news articles can be found at

http://joshwolf.net/grandjury/