PORTLAND, Maine - Maine broadcasters are facing a judge's order to produce unaired tapes of prosecutor interviews in a homicide case.
The Portland Press Herald reports that the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and WGME-TV have seven days to hand over outtakes from interviews with Pamela Ames. Ames is the former assistant attorney general who won a conviction against Anthony Sanborn Jr. in the 1989 murder of his childhood girlfriend Jessica Briggs.
Sanborn served 27 years in prison before being released on bail in April after a witness recanted her statement.
Attorney Amy Fairfield says Sanborn was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct. In interviews with MPBN and WGME, Ames says she never pressured witnesses.
News directors from both stations filed affidavits saying the release would create a "chilling effect'' on future news gathering.