Convicted Detroit reporter Bukowski escapes jail time in sentencing

DETROIT — Diane Bukowski, a reporter for the African-American owned Michigan Citizen newspaper, was given one year of probation, 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $4,000 in fines Monday morning after being convicted of two felony counts of police obstruction last month.

Bukowski was arrested at the scene of a fatal high-speed police chase crash in northeast Detroit last November. Her conviction has been seen as a political attack from the office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy because of Bukowski’s dogged reporting of police brutality and related justice issues in Detroit. Bukowksi has criticized the Wayne County prosecutor’s office for not responding to these incidents or investigating police officers who were accused of violence and rape.

Early during the sentencing, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hathaway said he would not give Bukowski jail time. Seconds before announcing his sentence, Hathaway said he was being fair: “I’m very comfortable with the result of this case and with the sentence that I am about to impose,” he said.

Hathaway briefly touched on the issue of the case being retribution for her reporting. “If the defense could show that any trooper knew who she was it could perhaps explain a motive,” he said. “We kept politics out of this case and I’m gonna keep politics out of the sentencing.”

Hathaway said that neither side was completely forthcoming during the trail.

He blasted Bukowski for not informing him or the jury that one of her character witnesses, foreclosure attorney Jerry Goldberg, was her ex-husband, calling it “astounding” and “disingenuous.” He also noted that state troopers “gave testimony that was refuted by Fox 2 news film.”

“Neither sides come to the table with clean hands here, in my view,” the judge said.

The courtroom which was packed with Bukowski supporters including grassroots coalition Call ‘Em Out leader Agnes Hitchcock and Detroit School Board member Marie Thornton.

Bukowski told Michigan Messenger in an interview after the sentencing that she was glad she didn’t get jail time but she had other concerns. “This type of thing will happen to other journalists,” she said. “I’m very concerned about the state of the First Amendment.”

John Royal, Bukowski’s lawyer, said an appeal if forthcoming. Calling the trial “unfair,” he said there were four issues that he plans to pursue in the appeal. One of which was that when Bukowski’s first lawyer dropped out of the case, the defense wasn’t given any time re-group. “The trial should have been adjourned to prepare,” he said.

Royal also said the state troopers who deleted Bukowski’s photos of the scene should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice.

“The photos, if preserved, would have been unfavorable to the prosecution,” he told Michigan Messegner in an interview after the sentencing. Despite testimony from state troopers, Royal said that he and Bukowski contend that she never crossed any police lines.

Royal argued that jury was lacked thorough instructions: “The jury should have been instructed that journalists have certain rights to observe police and government actions,” he said.

During the sentencing, one state trooper who assisted in Bukowski’s arrest, Andrea Barber, accused the reporter of not only crossing police lines but threatening public safety. “Ms. Bukowski walked 150 feet into crime scene and put innocent citizens at risk because of crowd control,” she said in her statement. “It took three troopers [who would have been on crowd control] to constrain Ms. Bukowski … luckily we all made it home safe.”

Barber said Bukowski was asked to leave before being arrested, something Bukowski has refuted. The state trooper asked that the judge impose a tough sentence on Bukowski that would “send a message to other media that crossing our lines is unacceptable.”

Prosecutor Tom Trizinski also called for hard sentencing. Since the judge said early on that he would not give Bukowski jail time, Trizinski suggested that she get five years probation and be ordered to enroll in journalism ethics classes at Wayne State University. “She made [the state troopers'] jobs 100 percent harder that day.” He said. “She doesn’t have a journalistic ethics background at all.”

In her closing argument in front of the judge, Buowski’s co-counsel Sharon McPhail, called the Michigan Citizen reporter a “brilliant journalist and a fine person.” She said Bukowski has been to thousands of crimes scenes and that this one was just a blip on the screen on her career.

Bukowski’s close family members were in the courtroom. Her mother, Dorothy Bukowski, and said she was relieved that her daughter did not get jail time. Bukowski’s sister Eileen Stadler said the judge “followed the letter of the law” with his sentence but felt the case should have been discarded in the first place.

Hathaway expected Bukowski to appeal. As the courtroom emptied he said “I’m assuming you’ll be back here.”

Royal said he will begin the appeal in the next few weeks with a motion for a new trial.