State v. Sandstrom

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Owsley, J.:

This is an appeal from the trial court’s finding that petitioner Joe Pennington, a news reporter, was in direct criminal contempt for refusing to disclose the identity of a confidential *574news source. Petitioner filed a direct appeal and a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the court of appeals. The writ was denied. (In re Pennington, 1 Kan. App. 2d 682, 573 P.2d 1099 [1977].) Petition for review was granted by this court and upon motion the petition and direct appeal were consolidated for decision.

The issue on review is whether a news…