Army subpoenas CBS News for unaired interview footage in sexual abuse case

The U.S. Army issued a subpoena on May 5, 2024, to CBS News seeking unaired footage of two interviews of veterans as part of court-martial proceedings against a military doctor at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington.

According to court filings, the Army served the subpoena at the request of defense attorneys for Maj. Michael Stockin, who faces a court-martial in the Army’s 6th Judicial Circuit Court. Stockin, an anesthesiologist at the base’s Madigan Army Medical Center, is charged with 47 counts of abusive sexual contact and five counts of indecent viewing under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

CBS News aired an investigative report on Feb. 22 featuring interviews with two of Stockin’s accusers. The men were in shadow to keep their identities anonymous.

The subpoena from Stockin’s attorneys sought access to both the aired and unaired interview footage. The unaired video would identify the retired servicemen, CBS News said in court filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

“The subpoena appears to be nothing more than a fishing expedition,” attorneys for CBS News argued in their motion to quash the subpoena.

In challenging the subpoena, attorneys invoked reporter’s privilege, which protects journalists from revealing unpublished material and confidential sources. Although a reporter’s privilege hasn’t been established in the military court system, CBS argued that it is rooted in the First Amendment and common law.

“The existence of a free press has long been understood to depend on the ability of journalists to effectively gather news and to operate independently of the government,” the motion said. “Those principles are undermined when journalists are compelled to disclose their sources or their unpublished journalistic work product.”

If the judge doesn’t quash the subpoena as requested, CBS asked that the issue be postponed until trial. Then, if either of the two accusers testified, a judge could view the unaired footage privately — referred to as in camera review — and admit only that which contradicted the testimony, if any did so.

The government, in a response to the motion, contended that the sources weren’t confidential because they are among the defendants in the case. It argued against quashing the subpoena and in favor of an in camera review of the footage ahead of the trial.

Following a hearing on Aug. 15, the court asked CBS and the government to submit additional briefs before it would make a ruling on the motion to quash.

The trial is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2025.