Reno station, reporter win battle over taped interview

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

A Reno television reporter and her station, represented by Las Vegas attorney Dominic Gentile, have won their court battle to keep prosecutors from confiscating videotapes of an interview with a murder defendant.

In the jailhouse interview witnessed by a guard, John Andre Bazile gave statements implicating himself in the Nov. 13, 1997, stabbing death of Judith Laine.

Some of those statements were part of a Dec. 31, 1997, news broadcast on KRNV-TV, but other incriminating statements were detailed only in statements from the reporter, Victoria Campbell.

Campbell and the television station claimed the demand for those tapes violated the U.S. Constitution and Nevada law, although the reporter agreed to turn over a copy of the report aired on television and take the witness stand to authenticate the story.

In a decision Friday, District Judge Peter Breen ruled that while "the state's interest in prosecuting criminal conduct and the interest of justice are compelling, it appears the facts of this case weigh in favor of the First Amendment."

Breen modified Campbell's subpoena to require only that she turn over the story broadcast and testify to the authenticity of the report, as she had offered to do.