Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- June 22, 2021
- Location
- Rockingham, North Carolina
- Arrest status
- Arrested and released
- Arresting authority
- North Carolina Superior Court
- Charges
-
-
Contempt of court
- June 22, 2021: Convicted
- July 14, 2021: Pending appeal
- Aug. 1, 2021: Convicted
-
Contempt of court
- Unnecessary use of force?
- No
Arrest/Criminal Charge
North Carolina journalist gets contempt charge expunged
Reporter Matthew Sasser, who was charged with criminal contempt of court in June 2021 for bringing a tape recorder into a courtroom while covering a murder trial in Rockingham, North Carolina, had the charge expunged on March 28, 2024.
Sasser was covering the trial for the Richmond County Daily Journal and unintentionally violated a standing administrative order forbidding the use of electronic equipment in the courtroom. He was fined $500, the maximum allowed.
Sasser’s editor, Gavin Stone, had mistakenly told Sasser that tape recorders were permissible in the Richmond County Judicial Center. Stone was also charged with contempt of court and was sentenced to five days in prison, though he spent only 24 hours in custody.
An attorney representing the journalists filed an immediate appeal. Charges were still pending after an appeals court hearing in August 2021, so the Tracker is listing Aug. 1, 2021, as the date for the reinstated conviction.
Months later, both journalists were offered a deal to resolve the charges. Stone told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in 2022 that, in order “to put the situation to bed,” he completed 20 hours of community service and submitted a formal apology letter to the court and Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell, who had issued the contempt charges. The Daily Journal was also ordered to run a quarterly advertisement about the rules of the court.
Sasser told the Tracker in October 2025 that he also did community service and sent an apology letter, and was told that in exchange for those terms, the Daily Journal ad, and not breaking courtroom rules again, the charges would be dropped after a year.
But, he said, there was no follow-up from the court after the journalists met the requirements of the agreement, and he eventually found out from his lawyer that the charges were never dropped. He therefore sought an expungement, which he got in March 2024.
Sasser said that Champion Media, owner of the Daily Journal, covered his legal fees, and that he never paid the original fine.
“Obviously, we paid more than that in legal fees,” he said.
Of the silence from the court, he said, “It seemed like Judge Futrell liked that it was always hanging over us.”
Matthew Sasser, a reporter for the Richmond County Daily Journal, was charged on June 22, 2021, with criminal contempt of court for bringing a tape recorder into a courtroom while covering a murder trial, according to the charging document reviewed by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The charging document states that on June 21 and 22 Sasser violated a standing administrative order from August 2019 forbidding the use of electronic equipment in the courtroom.
Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell fined Sasser $500, the maximum allowed. In the same hearing, Futrell charged Sasser’s editor Gavin Stone with contempt of court for instructing Sasser that he could bring a tape recorder into court, according to the court documents and the newspaper’s regional publisher Brian Bloom, who spoke to CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Both Sasser and Stone acknowledged that they violated the August 2019 order, but said they did not correctly understand that tape recorders were also prohibited inside the courtroom, according to the court document.
The Associated Press reported that, under North Carolina law, courts can punish someone for criminal contempt if they had previously been warned by the court that the conduct was improper.
Stone had in January 2020 received notice in a letter from Chief District Court Judge Amanda Wilson claiming he had violated the August 2019 order by photographing in the courtroom and publishing that image in the Daily Journal.
During a June 22 court hearing, Stone was sentenced to 5 days in prison and was jailed immediately. Stone told the Tracker he was released after approximately 24 hours in custody. The Tracker has documented his charges here.
An attorney representing the journalists filed an immediate appeal, securing Stone’s release, according to the AP. Futrell lifted the initial penalties and the editor and reporter will appear before an appeals court in August, Bloom told CPJ. If their convictions are upheld, each could face a fine up to $500, 30 days in prison or both, according to the court document.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
