[Mb-civic] N.Y. Times Reporter Released From Jail - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

N.Y. Times Reporter Released From Jail
Miller to Testify In CIA Leak Probe

By Susan Schmidt and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 30, 2005; Page A01

New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from jail late 
yesterday and is scheduled to testify this morning before a federal 
grand jury investigating whether any government officials illegally 
leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media, 
according to lawyers involved in the case.

Miller, 57, has been jailed for contempt of court since July 6 for 
refusing to testify about conversations with news sources. She was 
released from the Alexandria Detention Center shortly after 4 p.m. 
yesterday after her attorney Robert S. Bennett reached an agreement on 
her testimony with special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, according 
to two lawyers familiar with the case.

Miller had refused to testify about information she received from 
confidential sources. But she said she changed her mind after I. Lewis 
"Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Cheney, assured her 
in a telephone call last week that a waiver he gave prosecutors 
authorizing them to question reporters about their conversations with 
him was not coerced.

"It's good to be free," Miller said in a statement last night. "I went 
to jail to preserve the time-honored principle that a journalist must 
respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source. . 
. . I am leaving jail today because my source has now voluntarily and 
personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our 
conversations relating to the Wilson-Plame matter."

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said in a statement: "Judy 
refused to testify in this case because she gave her professional word 
that she would keep her interview with her source confidential. In 
recent days, several important things have changed that convinced Judy 
that she was released from her obligation."

But Joseph Tate, an attorney for Libby, said yesterday that he told 
Miller attorney Floyd Abrams a year ago that Libby's waiver was 
voluntary and that Miller was free to testify. He said last night that 
he was contacted by Bennett several weeks ago, and was surprised to 
learn that Miller had not accepted that representation as authorization 
to speak with prosecutors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/29/AR2005092901974.html
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