North Dakota prosecutors subpoena outlet’s unpublished work product

Prosecutors in Minot, North Dakota, subpoenaed BEK Communications on Sept. 30, 2025, seeking reporting materials tied to BEK TV’s online documentary series “Dunseith Declassified.”

The series focuses on the state’s criminal case against Daniel Breijo, who is charged with murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and terrorizing. Eleven episodes, which aired between March and September 2025, featured interviews with the surviving victim, who is also the state’s primary witness, according to news reports and court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

BEK Communications CEO Derrick Bulawa wrote in a court filing that the company contacted the victim in December 2024 and conducted five interviews with her, portions of which were confidential at her request. Prosecutors asked for BEK’s internal communications with the victim and all unpublished footage and materials from those interviews, reissuing the subpoena Oct. 16 under the criminal rules of procedure at BEK’s request.

In an Oct. 27 motion to strike down the subpoena, BEK attorney Robin Forward argued that the subpoena violates both the First Amendment and North Dakota’s shield law protecting journalists from having to disclose information. He noted that prosecutors have already deposed the victim and could obtain the information directly from her, and called the subpoena “a clumsy and inappropriate fishing expedition.”

Special Assistant Ward County State’s Attorney Amanda Engelstad argued in response that BEK chose to broadcast “sensitive and critical information” about an ongoing criminal case and cannot rely on the shield law to avoid disclosure.

Engelstad wrote that “it would be an absolute miscarriage of justice for the State and Defendant not to have all of the information known to be available considering the seriousness of the charges.”

Ward County District Court Judge Danel El-Dweek heard arguments on the motion to quash the subpoena Dec. 17, and the trial in the underlying case is scheduled for March 2026.