Jana Winter is a journalist for Fox News and a witness subpoenaed hy Defendant concerning Defendant"s Motion for Sanctions For Violating this Court's Order limiting Pretrial Publicity by Leaking Privileged and Confidential Information to the Media and Request for Evidentiary Hearing (D-017), filed October 12, 2012.
Ms. Winter wrote an article published on July 25,2012 regarding a package that was found at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus related to this case. In her article Ms. Winter cited two "law enforcement" sources. Defendant asserts that the information given to Ms. Winter regarding the package was leaked in violation of this Court's Protective Orders D-8. D-9, and D-10, as well as in violation of this Court's Order Limiting Pretrial Publicity D-2.
The Court held an evidentiary hearing on the matter on Decemher 10, 2012, and all individuals whom Defendant has identified as potentially having contact with the package testified that they did not speak to the media about the package and that they did not know of anyone who spoke to the media about the package.
On the importance of her testimony, the Court writes in a separate order denying the state's request to deny the defense motion for sanctions for the information allegedly leaked to Winter:
A violation of a Court Order is an issue of contempt, not equity. Additionally, there is still a possibility that a law enforcement officer committed perjury, a class four felony, in front of this Court. it is the responsibility of this Court to ensure that this issue does not infringe on the truth-seeking process or on the rights of the People, Defendant, or the public.
However, the issue of Winter's appearance may still be unresolved. While the court refused to strike the defense motion or delay the hearing, and rejected Winter's request for a stay of her required appearance, the Court gave her until today to file more pleadings. Yesterday, her attorneys filed a motion to quash the subpoena, a supporting brief and three affidavits.
Winter says Colorado's shield law for journalists protects her from having to testify about her sources.
