Josh Wolf Is Free

Freelance videographer and blogger Josh Wolf, who spent more than seven months in prison as a journalist refusing to comply with a subpoena, was freed Tuesday after cutting a deal with prosecutors.

…

Swearing in a new court document that he neither took part in nor could identify those responsible for the car’s damage or the officer’s injury, Wolf extracted a promise from prosecutors that they won’t use the existing subpoena to compel his testimony before a grand jury.

At a press conference late Tuesday afternoon on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, Wolf said the deal was “a good decision” since it freed him from having to testify – which he said was long the sticking point with prosecutors.

“This has never been about a videotape,” he said. “It was the testimony which I felt to be the most egregious affront on my rights as a citizen and a journalist. This leaves my ethics intact.”

This deal leaves his ethics intact?

What? I thought this whole thing was about his rights as a citizen journalist, and being forced to turn over the tape? I thought the whole reason he was sitting in jail is because the federal prosecutors wanted his journalistic material? That's what I was led to believe, when I donated to the Josh Wolf Legal Defense Fund.

It sounds to me like this was a win-win deal for the government. They got what they wanted, and by "cutting a deal" with Wolf they avoided any further First Amendment arguments in the case.

Damn this makes me sick. Is it too late to get a refund on that donation? I don't want any of my money paying for some slacker whose ethics amount to little more than a stage show.

[Hat Tip: Insignificant Thoughts]