Page 4-Wednesday, September 27, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighty-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom
Are nine news stories
worth an innocent prisoner?
Vol. LIX, No. 18
News Phone: 764-0552
edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Nicaragua: the inevitable
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happened and will persist
N ICARAGUA IS a country steeped even sticks and stones. At one point,
in desperation and poverty. Even the rebels cut down trees along'
ompared to other South American boulevards to block the advancing
untries Nicaragua ranks miserably tanks and trucks carrying the well-
ow. And like most of its neighbors equipped National Guard.
Vicaragua has been ruled by a The rebels are mostly teenagers or
nilitaristic dictatorship since World college-age persons led by a small
War II. The people were hungry, they group of dedicated guerrillas. Those
iad no food. They were repressed, they fighting span the political spectrum
evolted. Round one of the struggle is from left to right but have one unifying
)er - the government has won. goal - the overthrow of President
A month-long street struggle has Somoza and the establishment of a
,nded in Nicaragua's cities leaving people's government. Ultimately they
housands of courageous citizens and will win, but at what cost? How many
nisguided chauvinist soldiers. During more will die to bring about what the
he fighting there were countless U.S. government should have been
atrocities committed by the National encouraging through political .and
Guard - led by Nicaraguan President economic pressure for the past thirty
knastasio Somoza's son. But atrocities years?
are nothing new to this underdeveloped The answer to this problem is not
ropical country. Nicaragua was simple. If the rebels win they have no
Singled out as one bf the worst plan for a new government. They will
>ffenders of the United Nations Human be very susceptible to another right-
Rights declaration in a report to wing military coup similar to the
President Carter last year. Chilean tragedy in 1974 where General
To show its disapproval of President Pinochet is firmly entrenched behind
Somoza's policies, the U.S. Congress what' seems to be an impenetrable
rted last week to cut all aid to screen of armaments and ignorance.
Nicaragua except for food and medical President Somoza must be forced out
assistance. Alas, too late. Sadly, the of power, but care should be taken to
J.S. has played a significant role in the ensure a bloodless transitional
levelopment of the recent revolt. The government is established whereby the
J.S. trained the Nicaraguan National people, without fear of reprisal, may
Guard and provided it arms. In return, choose a leader who will be responsive
President Somoza's government has to their needs.
been friendly and cooperative with the Whatever role the U.S. should play in
U.S. The ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion bringing about peaceful change,
>f Cuba was launched from Nicaragua President Carter must take every
and the picture of a recent U.S. precaution to see that the Rhodesian
ambassador ironically adorns debacle is not repeated. An interim
Nicaraguan paper money. government must include all factions
President Somoza, a despotic of the dispute. Free elections must be
lictator whose family has controlled held as soon as possible. And whatever
Nicaragua since 1947, was the focus of the conclusion, President Carter must
he street fighters' frustration. From prevent any post-election military
he beginning, -their efforts were intervention, and allow the new
doomed to failure. They fought with government to be of the people, for the
homemade weapons, shotguns and people.
A woman I know has developed a response
that is virtually assured of giving a parent the
last word in an argument with a rebellious
child, When her son asks why she is a nag so
much of the time, she explains, "It is my
role to be a nag, and you role to resent it. To
nag you is, quite simply, my job."
The same clash is often played out between
the press and the courts. It is the job of the
reporter to smoke out the story and, when
necessary, defend the anonymity of his sour-
ces. But where the story touches upon a sub-
ject that finds its way into court, especially
criminal court, it is the job of the courts and
defense lawyers to demand the reporter's
notes to assure the defendant of a fair trial.
This conflict produced a new hero this
summer for civil liberties advocates when
New York Times reporter Myron Faber was
jailed after he refused to turn over his notes to
the judge hearing the celebrated murder case
of Dr. Mario Jascalevich. Farber was
released by the New Jersey Supreme Court
after 26 nights in jail.
BUT THERE IS a gnawing problem in the
Farber case that troubles even some of his
most ardent supporters.
It wasn't a lazy district attorney looking for
an easy conviction who subpoenaed Farber's
notes. It was the defense, seeking evidence
that could exonerate a defendant charged
with three counts of murder.
The worst that could happen if a prosecutor
were unsuccessful in getting access to a
reporter's materials is that a suspected
criminal might go free. In the Jascalevich
case, a possible innocent man could spent the
rest of his life in prison.
The right of Farber to protect the
anonymity of his news sources suddenly im-
pinges upon the right of Jascalevich to a fair
trial. The First Amendment essentially bangs
head on into the Sixth Amendment, which
guarantees that a defendent in a criminal
trial has the right to "be confronted with the
witnesses against him."
Raymond Brown, defense attorney in the
Jascalevich case, has managed to portray
Farber an ad agent of the prosecution. Brown
argues that Farber had interviewed at least
nine witnesses in the case who provided
anonymous testimony damaging to his client
and that Farber might have knowledge of
some items missing from the prosecution file.
BROWN'S MORE general argument is also
compelling. When a prosecutor prepares a
witness to testify at a trial, that testimony is
often rehearsed dozens of times until it is
"just right."
This is not to suggest that the prosecutor
frequently puts words into the mouth of the
witness. Rather, the prosecutor helps the wit-
ness polish his testimony to the point where
any earlier hesitation or sense of doubt disap-
pears. Glaring orevenasubtle inconsistencies
in the original story of a witness are no longer
there for the jury to evaluate.
There are normally only two possible ways
by which a defense lawyer can discover
earlier, unpolished versions of a witness'
story.
One is to pursue police and prosecutors who
initially interviewed the witness and who, one
hopes, took and preserved careful notes or
recordings. Under various Supreme Court
rulings, such interview notes must be turned
over to the defense counsel.
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By Harvey Silvergate
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Yet it is for this very reason that many
police and prosecutors have adopted the prac-
tice of taking few, if any, careful notes until
after the witness' story has come out in a
manner pleasing to the prosecution.
AS A RESULT, this is not a very reliable
source from which a defense counsel can ob-
tain a witness' earliest version of the story.
The other possibility is to find a person to
whom the witness spoke, preferably at a time
before the witness' first encounter with a
policeman or prosecutor. To a defense
lawyer, it hardly matters whether such a per-
son is a friend or relative of the witness or a
newspaper reporter.,
What the lawyer wants to know is whether
the witness whisteled a different tune bfore he
met with the prosecutor and learned what the
prosecutor wanted him to say, or what would
be advantageous for the witness to say.
Frequently, cooperation with the
prosecutor is an explicit part of a plea
bargain entered into by a witness who just as
easily could have been a co-defendant. To
some witnesses, cooperation entails telling a
story that will please the prosecution by im-
plicating the defendant rather than
necessarily telling the truth.
IT IS understandable why reporters are
reluctant to testify or turn over notes in these
court proceedings. Such cooperation would
doubtless have a corrosive effect on report-
ers' ability to do their job. On the other hand,
it is folly for First Amendment supporters
not to recognize that it would have an equally
corrosive effect on our criminal justice
system if a defendant on trial for a serious
crime does not have available to him all
possible tools for testing the credibility and
accuracy of witnesses whose testimony could
land him in prison or end his life.
Defense attorney Brown claims that the
right of Farber to protect the confidentiality
of his sources is insignificant compared to the
right of his client for a fair trial.
Brown can benefit from the current conflict
now before the New Jersay Supreme Court in
one of two ways. He can get Farber to turn
over the material, which may help his client
before the jury. Or if Farber's rights are
upheld, Brown could argue that because his
client had been deprived of all possibilities to
prove is innocence, the indictment against
him should be dismissed. It is Brown's clear
ethical obligation to pursue these arguments.
To paraphrase the ancient dictum, Brown
argues that it is preferable that nine news
stories not be written that one innocent person
be convicted.
(Harvey Silvergate is a Boston lawyer who has writ
ten on legal trends for The Boston Globe and the
weekly Real Paper.)
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Letters to ire Iailu
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To the Daily:
Several points are worth noting
in the current round, of Mideast
peace making. First, this
agreement comes about after 30
years of hatred and four ruinous
wars for all Mideast countries.
That Israel and Egypt are able to
sign an agreement with which
they are both happy and has the
potential to lead to some type of
peace is a major, major
accomplishment.
Second, the agreement is
purposely vague and fraught with
issues which are not yet solved.
These include Jerusalem,
sovereignty in the West Bank and
Gaza strip, settlements, military
deployment, and others whicha
are bound to be brought forth in
the coming days.
Yet, understanding that issues
remain to be solved, there is a
framework for peace that both
sides want to achieve. This could
turn out . to be the most
triumphant meeting in the
history of the Arab-Israeli
conflict, and all of us who want a
just peace should be overjoyed at
the outcome.
Why then does The Daily, and
other U.S. newspapers purposely
put these agreements in a
negative light? On Tuesday The
Daily's banner headline read
"Mideast summit agreement
doubtful" while, ironically, Sadat
and Begin were hugging in the
picture below.
peaceful hopes. Such a headline
in The Daily will do nothing but
dampen our enthusiasm, when
the objective facts do not warrant
such a reaction.
-David Fleshler
The Kiopotkin plan
To the Daily:
We can't understand
why your articles on the
plan to change Ann Arbor's
transport system and deal with
the daily oppression inflicted on
our lives by cars fail to mention
the Kropotkin plan. Many
residents are enthusiastically
talking about this, especially as
they are annoyed at the
authoritarian ways in which the
planners, as usual, force their
plans on the people.
The Kropotkin plan aims at the
total elimination of cars from the
town because they are
destructive of social and personal
life. They pollute. They enhance
the competitiveness and
aggression essential to the ethos
of possessive individualism
that saps the social ties of the.
community, In their waste of
natural resources they literally
cost the earth. We owe it to Ann
Arbor as much as the rest of the
world's people to stop car-
addiction now.
Instead of wasting huge
amount of taxpayers' money on
expensive road-building and on
high technology gimmicks like
plan is the reconversion of the
city's parking structures into
housing and communal centers,
using the tops for vegetable
gardens and playing fields, etc..
Thus both the car problem and
the housing shortage would be
solved by a measure that is of
mutual aid to both people and the
environment.
-Michael Taussig
Anthropology Dept.
-Bob Hauert
Office of Ethics and
Religious Affairs
A disappointing
review
To The Daily:
I am writing this in response to
your review of Neil Young's
Monday night performance.
Answering as a Neil Young
fanatic, I was very disappointed
with the review. I thought he
show was tight and very
impressive. As for the so called
"cheap novelty store props" that
Neil produced on stage, I looked
upon it as a very interesting
device to keep the crowd's
attention.
One thing abdut Neil Youn, you
never know what to expect from
him, and I think this is what
makes him a very refreshing
artist. As for the playing of the
Woodstock track, I thought that
was also amusing and fit the
context of the show beautifully.
and into the black," he rocked it
like an encore usually is done,
unlike the first acoustic version.
I can't express anyone else's
opinion, but everytime I listen to
a Neil Young song, whether past
or present, or future, I will hear
what I heard before, and a whole
lot more*
-Peter Shapiro
LSA Senior
Carter a 'hick'?
To the Daily:
Jimmy Carter's comparison of
the Palestinian Liberation
Organization to the Klan and the
Nazis clearly reveals that he is
still a "Georgia hick" in the
world of foreign policy, despite
what the Camp David travesty
portrayed to the naive American
public in terms of "diplomatic
success." The P.L.O. has been
recognized as the legitimate
representative of the Palestinian
people by both the United Nations
and the'Arab countries in formal
declarations. More important,
the Palestinian people in both the
occupied territories and in the
disapora have reiterated their
acceptance of the P.L.O.'s role in
presenting their case to the
world.
The president's selective recall
seems quite inappropriate and, in
the long run, will be the ultimate
Legacy Dist. Field Newspaper Syndicate, 1978
(abe £idiitmzn it aiI
EDITORIAL STAFF
Arts Editors
OWEN GLEIBERMAN
MIKE TAYLOR
DA
Editors-in-chief
)AVID GOODMANt
GREGG KRUPA
Managing Editors
EILEEN DALEY
KEN PARSIGIAN
BARB ZAHS
Editorial page director
SPORTS STAFF
BOB MILLER. ...................Sports Editor
PAUL CAMPBEL...... ........... Executive Sports Editor
ERNIE DUL'NI$AI{........ . .......... Executive Sports Editor
HENRY ENGEI.IAIIYI............Executive Sports Editor
KIeK MAI)l)u(K.................Executive Sports Editor
CUB SCHWART ................... Executive Sports Editor