Case Closed for Jana Winter as Supreme Court Will Not Take Up Source Case

By Chris Ariens 

jana winterThe Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the lawyers of movie theater killer James Holmes who demanded FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter be compelled to testify about the source of one of her stories.

The high court’s decision keeps in place a December ruling from the New York Court of Appeals ending the nearly two-year-long legal fight.

Winter, who lives and works in New York, reported on the existence of Holmes’ diary which he reportedly gave to his psychiatrist before he went on his July 2012 shooting spree.

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“We’re pleased that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of free speech,” Fox News said in a statement. “The Court made it clear that Jana Winter can never be compelled to testify in Colorado, and that all New York-based journalists and media companies can rely on New York’s strong shield law when they are covering news across the country.”

“I hope that this will really change the way that reporters work,” Winter told TVNewser in December, following the appellate court decision. “I hope that people can go to another state and report on something and promise a source that they will remain confidential, and mean it, and not have to go through what I went through.”

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