SFPD to Return Property Seized From Journalist in Raid Over Adachi Leak

A journalist whose property was seized in a raid by San Francisco police will get his property back, a police attorney said Tuesday at a court hearing — but the decision did little to ease tensions in the case, which has attracted national attention and put pressure on city leaders.

Authorities have said the May 10 raids on freelance journalist Bryan Carmody's home and office were part of an investigation into what police called the illegal leak of a report on the death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who died unexpectedly in February. During the raid, police took Carmody's computers, cellphones, cameras and flash drives, among other items. Critics of the raid have denounced it as an assault on the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

"It's good that we're getting it back, but it's critical to know what, if anything, that they kept copies of. What, if anything, they are doing with the information that was, in our view, improperly seized from his newsroom," said Thomas Burke, Carmody’s attorney.

Carmody said in a tweet that he remains focused on making sure nothing the police seized can be used against him or his sources.

Media organizations across the country have criticized the raids as a violation of California's shield law, which specifically protects journalists from search warrants. Dozens of news organizations are siding with Carmody and seeking to submit a friend-of-the-court brief.

The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle has joined with other publications in criticizing city leaders, including Mayor London Breed, for failing to quickly condemn the police actions.

Breed initially defended the raids, but on Sunday posted messages on Twitter saying she was "not OK" with raids on reporters.

District Attorney George Gascón, whose office would normally be responsible for prosecuting Carmody, condemned the police raid. He said he has not seen the warrants, which are sealed, but he could not imagine a situation where warrants would be appropriate.

"Seizing the entire haystack to find the needle risks violating the confidences Mr. Carmody owes to all his sources, not just the person who leaked the police report," he said in a tweet Monday.

The city attorney's office, which normally appears on behalf of the city, did not send an attorney to Tuesday's hearing. Spokesman John Cote said the office is "not appearing in court on that matter."

In court documents, Carmody has said he is a veteran journalist who is often the first on the scene of breaking news. He sells video news packages to local TV outlets and other clients.

He said a source gave him a preliminary police report that included previously unreported details about the circumstances of Adachi's death. Carmody went on to sell copies of the report, along with video footage from the scene of the death and information obtained from interviews, to three news stations.

The leak infuriated members of the city's Board of Supervisors. They scolded police for anonymously releasing the report to the press, saying it was an attempt to smear the legacy of Adachi, who was an outspoken critic of the Police Department. An autopsy found that Adachi's Feb. 22 death was due to a mixture of cocaine and alcohol that compromised his already damaged heart.

People who want to crack down on journalists come in all political stripes, said Jim Wheaton, founder of the First Amendment Project, a public interest law firm.

"They went after him because he's all by himself," Wheaton said. "And the fact that he sells the materials that he packages. He puts together a journalism report, including documents, and sells it. That's what journalism is."

It was unclear who is paying Carmody's legal fees. Burke, his attorney, declined to comment.

San Francisco police have defended the raids, and police attorney Ronnie Wagner said she intends to respond to the requests made by Burke and others. She declined to answer further questions Tuesday as reporters followed her down a courthouse staircase.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Samuel Feng set dates to hear requests by media organizations to unseal affidavits and revoke search warrants signed by judges.

The First Amendment Coalition wants the judge to unseal the Police Department's applications for two search warrants, which would show whether officers informed judges that Carmody is a journalist.

"I think delayed access in many ways is denied access, and so the public is apparently going to have to wait for at least another several weeks to understand what happened here that allowed the process to go off the rails, such that a journalist’s home and office were subjected to this dragnet sort of search," said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition.

KQED's Sonja Hutson contributed to this report.