Get Herald RSSColorado attorney Troy Ellerman admitted Feb. 14 to leaking grand jury transcripts to Lance Williams '72 and Mark Fainaru-Wada, co-authors of the book "Game of Shadows."
In response to Ellerman's plea, federal prosecutors dropped the subpoena that threatened to put the writers in jail for failing to identify the source of the sealed testimony on which they based much of their book.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada were sentenced to 18 months in prison for contempt of court last September and were appealing the decision when Ellerman admitted to the leak and pled guilty to obstructing justice last week.
Williams and Fainaru-Wada, investigative reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle, refused to comply with the Justice Department's demand that they reveal their source for documents that included testimonies of steroid use from baseball players Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery. Williams and Fainaru-Wada's book, "Game of Shadows," sparked Major League Baseball's investigation into steroid use in the sport.
"It's definitely a load off my mind not to figure I'm going to federal prison," Williams told The Herald. "It was really a bigger burden on my wife and kids because they worried and on my newspaper because they paid so much money in the legal battle."
Ellerman was deeply embroiled in the conflict surrounding the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a nutritional supplement lab that supplied Bonds and other professional athletes with designer steroids.
At different times during the controversy, Ellerman represented BALCO's founder Victor Conte and vice president James Valente. Conte served jail time, and Valente is on probation for his role in the steroid scandal. After pleading guilty, Ellerman was fined $250,000 and sentenced to up to two years in prison.
Despite Ellerman's admission, Williams still refuses to refer to his source by name, saying he and Fainaru-Wada "promised we would not betray them, and we're sticking to that."
Almost six months after being sentenced to jail, Williams unexpectedly found himself off the hook.
"It was Valentine's Day, and I was out getting my wife a bouquet," he said. "Then I got a call on my cell phone asking how it felt to have the charges dropped. I said 'Well, if that's true, it's great.' "
Williams was especially relieved to have the charges dropped because he believed he was "at the mercy" of the court system. The writers were scheduled to appear March 7 in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel in Pasadena, Calif.
If Williams and Fainaru-Wada had lost the decision, they likely would have continued the appeals process. The resolution not only keeps Williams from prison - it allows him to resume his career.
"My work has certainly been interrupted," Williams said. "Since May, I've spent two days a week working on this. It's been a big distraction for me and (Fainaru-Wada)."
Williams and Fainaru-Wada's legal battle attracted attention across the country. Television networks and newspapers published features and columns addressing whether writers should be protected from revealing their confidential sources, and groups have formed to argue for the protection of writers' confidentiality, Williams said.
Lawmakers have also paid attention to the plight of the two reporters. Fainaru-Wada told the Chicago Sports Review that he and Williams met Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on behalf of the two writers last December.
"I thought the attention from the press and lawmakers really changed the momentum of the case," Williams said. "There was a fair amount of pressure brought by the national media and TV shows, so Mark (and I) were hopeful about the verdict."
"I really think we need a shield law because the press doesn't have any protection," Williams said. "The Justice Department has no hesitation about prosecuting journalists like us. If people you are interviewing think they can be identified, they're not going to talk to you, so we have to get some confidentiality."
A shield law would protect members of the press from having to reveal the identities of their anonymous sources during legal proceedings.
Williams has become famous for his work in exposing the steroid scandal, but in the coming months he is looking forward to returning to his roots in investigative journalism.
"We still have to cover the whole Bonds steroids ordeal. And I hope to get back to it, but I'm not really a sports reporter, and I'd love to get back to writing some other things too," he said.
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