Ohio editor charged with wiretapping after publishing obtained court recording

Ohio journalist Derek Myers filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 14, 2023, alleging constitutional violations during his October 2022 arrest at the Pike County Courthouse in Waverly, Ohio, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Myers, editor-in-chief of the Scioto Valley Guardian, had published a condensed audio version of witness testimony at an ongoing murder trial after the judge barred the media from recording the testimony. Myers previously told the Tracker someone else made the recording surreptitiously and provided it to the Guardian.

A County Court judge then authorized the search and seizure of a laptop Myers had been using to livestream witness testimony and exhibits during the trial. When Myers went to the courthouse several days later to ask for the laptop, officers from the sheriff’s department also seized his cellphone and arrested him on a charge of felony wiretapping. The charge was dropped in August 2023.

In December, Myers filed a suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of himself and of NewsPatrol, Inc., the parent company of the Guardian, against the county, the sheriff, and a deputy and captain in the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, alleging violations of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendments and the Privacy Protection Act.

In August 2024, the judge dismissed the sheriff as a defendant and NewsPatrol as a plaintiff. He also indicated that the question underlying Myers’ remaining claims was whether the defendants had probable cause to arrest him and seize his equipment, which in turn would indicate whether they were entitled to qualified immunity, and invited the defendants to file a motion addressing that question.

Myers told the Tracker in August 2024 that his cellphone was returned the previous February. “They were not able to crack into it, thankfully,” he said. He confirmed that his laptop remains in the sheriff’s custody.

The felony wiretapping charge against Scioto Valley Guardian Editor-in-Chief Derek Myers was dropped on Aug. 10, 2023, nearly 300 days after a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge.

In fall 2022, Myers was reporting on a murder trial in Waverly, Ohio, which included using a laptop to livestream witness testimony and exhibits. After the judge in the case had issued an order barring video or audio recording of a witness, someone in the courtroom surreptitiously recorded the testimony and sent it to the Guardian.

The Guardian published a condensed version of the audio on Oct. 28, and that day a judge signed a search warrant for the laptop used to stream the trial. Three days later, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office charged Myers with interception of wire, electronic or oral communications, a fourth degree felony.

He pleaded not guilty and waived a preliminary hearing. The case was supposed to then be heard by a grand jury, which would determine whether to indict him on the charges, but over the following nine months the prosecutor did not present the case.

Myers told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on Aug. 14, 2023, he received a letter from the Pike County Court of Common Pleas informing him that the charge against him was dismissed during a hearing four days prior. He confirmed to the Tracker that neither he nor his attorneys were informed that a hearing had been set, but knew that the state’s deadline for prosecuting him had lapsed.

Myers told the Tracker that though he’s now free of the charges, the damage to his personal reputation and that of the Guardian has already been done.

“Our finances have tanked in this small town with advertisers. No one wants to do business with a supposed-criminal,” Myers said.

In addition, the newspaper’s equipment is still in law enforcement custody. “As of now, there is no communication from authorities or any word on when, if ever, the equipment will be returned,” said Greg Barwell, an attorney representing the Guardian’s parent company, NewsPatrol, Inc.

Myers said he intends to file a civil right lawsuit in order to set a precedent that will protect other journalists from going through something similar.

“We’re not asking for a lot when we say we want to set a precedent,” Myers said. “We’re only asking that authorities follow federal law that outlines protections for journalists.”