Fox News reporter faces jail in shooter trial

A Fox News reporter from New York faces a six-month prison term if she refuses to divulge who told her information critical to the trial of accused mass shooter suspect James Holmes.

A file photo of Fox News reporter Jana Winter.

Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. on Wednesday said he "needs to know more" and will wait to decide if information illegally published by reporter Jana Winter is relevant to the case.

Holmes, accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 in the shooting massacre at the Century 16 movie theater last summer, is expected to enter a "not guilty by insanity" plea, which will turn the spotlight back on Winter.

Winter reported that two "unnamed" law enforcement officers looked at a notebook sent by Holmes to his psychiatrist and saw violent drawings and writings. Fox News went live with the information after a Colorado judge imposed a "gag order" on the proceedings.

In subsequent hearings, Holmes' attorneys have questioned police officers attempting to find out who leaked the information, arguing that the sources violated the judge's gag order, and have affected public opinion on the case.

On Wednesday, Samour cautioned that the defense must exhaust all other reasonable means of finding the leaks before they can call Winter back to court. That includes questioning police officers who were involved in court.

The notebook was mailed by Holmes, 25, a former neuroscience graduate student at the University of Colorado (CU), to his CU psychiatrist just hours before the grisly killings. Police seized it three days later in the CU mailroom.

The notebook is critical to the case against Holmes because it establishes that he planned the massacre and anticipated shooting people, as depicted by "stick figures" allegedly shown in the notebook.

Winter will likely be given the choice of naming her sources or going to jail, something she says she will do, and divulging her sources will be damaging to her career and harmful to the public's right to know.

Journalism advocates are increasing their support of Winter. Media groups across the country have rallied behind her, and this week several organizations submitted affidavits to Samour, supporting her right not to name her sources.

First Amendment advocates say that vital information will not be reported if sources cannot trust journalists to protect their anonymity, a practice that has been accepted for decades.

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are credited with using the most famous "unnamed source" in American journalism history, known as "deep throat." The two journalists refused to name "deep throat" in the journalistic investigation that caused the resignation of President Rickard Nixon in 1973.

According to Winter, police sources leafed through the notebook in the CU mailroom. The revelation of its contents subsequently was used by a number of other national news organizations, including ABC and NBC.

On April 1, the State of Colorado formally announced it will seek the death penalty for Holmes, who faces 166 counts of attempted murder and first degree murder. His trial is scheduled to begin in February 2014.

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