Josh Wolf Turns Over Tapes, Released

Video journalist and blogger Josh Wolf has been released from a federal correctional facility today after reaching an agreement with the Assistant U.S. District Attorney’s office to turn over raw footage filmed at a demonstration, according to reports [SF Chronicle, AP]. Wolf, defending his reporter’s privilege, was the longest-imprisoned journalist held for contempt of court in U.S. history, at 224 days.

According to comments made by Wolf’s counsel David Greene, Wolf had already agreed to turn over the footage, but refused to testify in order to identify people in the video. The U.S. Attorney dropped its demand that Wolf take the stand in the grand jury trial being held to investigate vandalism of a San Francisco Police Department vehicle.

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Wolf posted his original video report of San Francisco protests during the G8 Summit in 2005 to IndyBay, and the footage was subsequently picked up by local television news outlets. Wolf has denied all along that any crimes were caught on the tape, and asserted that he felt he was being strong-armed into naming protesters for political purposes. He has already posted the raw footage to his own site, now that it will no longer impact the outcome of his case.

We are waiting for comment from the US Attorney’s office and defense counsel Martin Garbus.