NYT-Contempt Finding Is Lifted in Case of Times Reporter [View All]

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Contempt Finding Is Lifted in Case of Times Reporter


By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: October 13, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - A federal district judge here lifted a contempt order Wednesday against Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, after she testified before a grand jury investigating the C.I.A. leak case about recently discovered notes relating to a conversation she had with a senior White House official.

The judge, Thomas F. Hogan, lifted the contempt finding several hours after Ms. Miller testified about the notes, which she took during a discussion on June 23, 2003, with I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

"We are thrilled and delighted," Robert S. Bennett, a lawyer for Ms. Miller, said of Judge Hogan's action, "and Judy is moving on to be the great, principled reporter that she is."

Bill Keller, The Times's executive editor, said: "It's a great relief to have Judy out of legal jeopardy. And it should clear the way for The Times to do what we've been yearning to do: tell the story." Mr. Keller had said in an earlier message to the paper's staff that once Ms. Miller's "obligations to the grand jury are fulfilled, we intend to write the most thorough story we can of her entanglement with the White House leak investigation."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/13/national/13leak.html