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Silk Plant panel to ask city to subpoena 'Journal'
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Published: April 28, 2009
The citizens committee reviewing the Silk Plant Forest case voted last night to ask the city council to subpoena the Winston-Salem Journal and former reporter Phoebe Zerwick.
The subpoena proposal passed 4 to 3, with committee member James Taylor abstaining.
Barry Lyons, a committee member, said he thought that having Zerwick testify is nearly as important as the subpoena the city council is pursuing against Don Williams, the case's lead detective.
The committee is reviewing the 1995 attack on Jill Marker inside the Silk Plant Forest, a store off Silas Creek Parkway. Kalvin Smith, the man convicted in the case, is serving 23 to 29 years in prison and in January lost his bid for a new trial.
A series of stories Zerwick wrote in 2004 quoted Williams saying he withheld some information from his reports to avoid it being shared with Smith's attorneys. The stories gave examples of work Williams did that he didn't document. He denied those quotes in a television interview.
The committee has twice sent the Journal a request to interview Zerwick and examine her notes.
Carl Crothers, the newspaper's executive editor, said, "The Journal stands by its belief that the press should not be forced to be an agent of the government."
He said the newspaper's reporting on the Smith case stood on its own merits and the paper would resist a subpoena, if one is issued by the city council.
Lyons said he thinks that the Journal can help the committee without compromising its values. "We're not asking for additional sources," he said. "We're not asking for a secret source."
Committee member Miles Foy voted against the subpoena request, but agreed with other members that the Journal's mission to serve the public should include cooperating with the committee. Foy and others said they doubted trying for a subpoena is an effective tactic.
The committee's interim report says it has no confidence in Williams' work on the case.
"I'm not inclined to disbelieve the newspaper at this point," Foy said. "It seems to me the burden of persuasion is on D.R. Williams."
■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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