NBC, local affiliate subpoenaed ahead of Massachusetts murder trial

WBTS-CD, a Needham, Massachusetts-based television affiliate of NBC News, was subpoenaed on Nov. 12, 2024, for recordings, notes and communications in connection with a murder trial in Dedham. The request was reissued on Nov. 20 to also target NBC, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

In July 2023, NBC News released a preview of a “Dateline” segment in which correspondent Dennis Murphy interviewed Karen Read, who stands accused of the murder of her boyfriend in a case that has captured national attention.

Prosecutors filed a request with the court two months later, asking that it compel NBC to turn over the full interview recording, including any unaired footage. Massachusetts does not have a formally recognized reporter’s shield law protecting journalists from being forced to disclose newsgathering materials.

Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone struck down that subpoena in October, noting that the prosecutors had not followed the required procedures for obtaining materials from out-of-state, nonparty witnesses.

After the case against Read ended in a mistrial in July 2024, NBC aired the full segment — titled “The Night of the Nor’easter” — on Oct. 18. The following month, prosecutors tried to obtain the interview recordings and notes again, attempting to get around the subpoena procedures by requesting them from WBTS-CD.

At the same time, a similar request was made to ABC News and its local affiliate, WCVB-TV, seeking records from an interview Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman conducted with Read.

In addition to the recordings and notes from the interviews with Read, both requests also explicitly sought copies of any off-the-record or redacted statements, and any communications between the national networks and Read.

After the request to WBTS-CD was reissued eight days later to include NBC News, no further court records were filed concerning the request. Neither NBC nor WBTS-CD responded to requests for comment.

However, Cannone struck down the request to ABC on Dec. 9, ruling that there was no legal basis for the prosecutors’ argument that serving the local affiliate exempted them from following procedures for subpoenaing out-of-state parties.

“To hold otherwise would allow a party to circumvent the procedural safeguards agreed to by all states that ensure necessary witnesses and records are available for criminal prosecution even if outside the state and that resident witnesses are not needlessly required to travel to other states to testify,” Cannone wrote in her decision.

The Tracker was unable to confirm whether the court applied the same finding to the WBTS-CD and NBC subpoena, and so is recording its status as “unknown.”