Nevada Supreme Court rules reporter protected from testifying

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 9:48 a.m.

The court, in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Myron Leavitt, found Thursday that Glenn Puit doesn't have to testify about what he was told by a Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman following the 1996 accident in Las Vegas.

The family of three victims in the accident filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Highway Patrol, claiming that troopers failed to arrest an intoxicated Michael Estrada when they encountered him several hours before the collision.

Troopers found Estrada, who appeared to be drunk, near his truck earlier in the day, but didn't arrest him because he had no car keys in his possession. Later in the day, the man was driving a pickup that slammed into a car. Five people died, including Estrada.

Puit had interviewed former NHP trooper Steve Harney about the accident, but Harney said later when deposed by attorneys in the case that he couldn't remember statements he had made to Puit and that had been printed in a news article.

The family suing the Highway Patrol wanted Puit to testify and asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

A three-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled in April that Puit would have to testify, but the court then decided to have arguments heard by the entire court.

Justices noted that the shield law was originally interpreted as protecting a reporter's confidential sources. But confidentiality isn't the only factor in considering a reporter's privilege not to disclose information, Leavitt wrote.

"The news shield statute protects all information, not just confidential information, which is obtained by a reporter in his or her capacity as a journalist and which is intended for dissemination," Leavitt said.

"Nevada's news shield statute serves an important public interest and provides absolute protection against compelled disclosure to ensure that through the press, the public is able to make informed political, social and economic decisions," Leavitt said.