State v. Turovh

This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court entered on a writ of habeas corpus releasing from custody two persons who had been adjudged guilty of contempt of court by a justice of the peace while acting as a coroner conducting an inquest.

The petitioners had been directed by the coroner at an inquest hearing to answer questions pertaining to communications made to them by a patient at the Southern Arizona Mental Health Center, Tucson, Arizona. This they refused to do. One of the petitioners was a clinical psychologist acting in his professional capacity when the communications in…