Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- October 5, 2023
- Targets
- D Magazine
- Legal Orders
-
-
subpoena
for
communications or work product
- Oct. 5, 2023: Pending
- Oct. 19, 2023: Objected to
- Nov. 16, 2023: Quashed
-
subpoena
for
communications or work product
- Legal Order Target
- Institution
- Legal Order Venue
- State
Subpoena/Legal Order
A portion of Texas prosecutors’ Oct. 5, 2023, subpoena for D Magazine to turn over the communications of journalist Jamie Leigh Thompson and its staff with the defendant in a murder case. The order was set aside in November.
Dallas-based D Magazine was subpoenaed to turn over communications in connection with a Texas murder case on Oct. 5, 2023, according to court filings. The order was set aside by a judge on Nov. 16.
For a May 2017 story in the monthly magazine about the high-profile death of Dallas lawyer Ira Tobolowsky, contributing editor Jamie Leigh Thompson corresponded via email with a main suspect, Steven Aubrey.
After Aubrey’s arrest on murder charges in 2022, prosecutors in Dallas County subpoenaed D Magazine for copies of communications between Thompson, the magazine’s staff and Aubrey.
In the magazine’s Oct. 19, 2023, motion to set aside the subpoena, filed in Dallas County District Court, it argued that the communications sought by prosecutors were protected as privileged under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. That statute shields journalists and news outlets from turning over confidential and nonconfidential information except in narrow circumstances.
District Judge Hector Garza granted the motion on Nov. 16.
Texas prosecutors dropped the charges against Aubrey in January 2024; however, they left open the possibility of reinstating the case.
Dallas County prosecutors also issued subpoenas in connection with the case to Thompson in July 2023, and in October 2023 to Fort Worth television station KTVT. The station’s order was set aside in November, and the charges against Aubrey were dropped before a court could rule on the substance of Thompson’s challenge.
D Magazine did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
