A search warrant served at a journalist’s home in the investigation of an unauthorized leak in the death of Jeff Adachi is raising questions about the first amendment versus the right of privacy, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
The coroner determined a month after the San Francisco Public Defender’s death that he died of a mix of cocaine use and a heart ailment.
Within hours of his death on February 22, salacious details were leaked to an independent journalist who reportedly sold the information to three television outlets.
Those reports indicated Adachi was with a lady friend identified only as Catalina who was visiting from out of town. The two went to an unoccupied apartment made available to them by another friend. It was at the apartment that Adachi became unresponsive and that Catalina called for help.
“It was unlawful and frankly pretty outrageous,” David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said to KQED about the search warrant.
“Somewhere along the line the judge either was not made aware that (Brian) Carmody is a journalist or he decided to disregard that,” said Snyder.
Carmody is a freelance videographer who usually makes his money selling video of breaking news events. He sold details of the death to three TV stations, according to the Chronicle. Carmody declined to give police the name of his source which came from inside the police department, but this week police raided his home and office and vehicle and seized check stubs, CDs, USB drives, computers, cell phones, notebooks and the original leaked police report.
Adachi’s widow last month called the leak “despicable.”
“It was like less than 12 hours and they released the police report with pictures and it was all over the news. To say that it doesn’t affect the family is an understatement. It’s incredibly painful to have the police department do this to you,” Mutsuko Adachi said to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Does the public have the right to know details of the death of an elected official-absolutely. That’s where the media comes in.
Just as certain, Adachi’s family is entitled to privacy after such a tragedy.
The SF Police Department vowed to investigate the leak after being criticized for it.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story