Reporter subpoenaed for trial testimony by California city

Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller was subpoenaed by prosecutors for the city of Fresno, California, on April 8, 2025, in connection with a criminal case. The subpoena was dropped as moot following the case’s dismissal on April 10.

The case involved Wickey Twohands, a 77-year-old homeless man who was arrested in October 2024 for alleged violations of the city’s controversial anti-camping law.

The ordinance — among the toughest in the state — went into effect in September 2024 and bans camping, sitting or lying on public property at any time. Twohands pleaded not guilty on Jan. 21, 2025, and his trial was postponed until April 10 so his attorney could file motions to dismiss the case.

Deputy City Attorney Daniel Cisneros subpoenaed Miller and a second reporter, Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela, ordering the journalists to appear to testify at the hearing, the Bee reported. Both Miller and Orihuela had previously interviewed Twohands and reported on the charges against him.

Miller told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had been out of the office each time they attempted to serve him from April 4 to 7, but the afternoon of April 8 they succeeded. He said the subpoena did not include any indication of what prosecutors intended to ask him, just a copy of his March article.

“The most frustrating part for me is it’s a good story, an interesting story, and now I can’t cover it,” Miller said. “It’s frustrating to try to be doing your job, where your whole job is being impartial and staying out of it, and then they try to pull you into it.”

The subpoenas to both Miller and Orihuela were rendered moot and functionally dropped after County Judge Brian Alvarez dismissed the case against Twohands on the grounds that the city violated his right to a speedy trial.

Following the dismissal, Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz told a Bee editor that he had not reviewed or authorized the subpoenas and that they had not been issued according to protocol, noting that “any communication with media or journalists has to be run through the City Attorney.”

Janz told the Bee that the journalists were subpoenaed to confirm the validity of their reporting and what the defendant had told them during his interviews, and that in the future the city will first ask journalists to voluntarily testify about published information.

Miller said that Janz’s stance was concerning. “I kind of expected the city attorney to say that they had made a mistake and that we shouldn’t worry about it in the future, but that doesn’t seem to be the stance he’s taken,” Miller told the Tracker. “It’s worrisome that the city attorney’s office sounds like they want to be doing this more in the future.”

David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, told the Bee that while the state’s shield law does not prohibit such subpoenas, the California Evidence Code establishes that news articles are self-authenticating.

“Whether they ask or send subpoenas, it’s immaterial,” Loy said. “It’s unnecessary, superfluous and compromises the independence and neutrality of the press. People aren’t going to be able to trust reporters if they see reporters on the stand testifying to the government.”