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Newspapers' parent company invokes Shield Law in leak probe

Philadelphia Media Network is fighting prosecutors' efforts to obtain documents that Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane is accused of illegally leaking to the Daily News in a bid to embarrass a political rival.

Philadelphia Media Network is fighting prosecutors' efforts to obtain documents that Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane is accused of illegally leaking to the Daily News in a bid to embarrass a political rival.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said he was seeking the documents given to reporter Chris Brennan, then with the Daily News, because he would like to conduct fingerprint and DNA testing on them.

Michael A. Schwartz, a lawyer who appeared on behalf of Brennan at a court hearing Friday in Norristown, said he was "asserting the Shield Law protection in order not to reveal a confidential source of Mr. Brennan's."

Schwartz also represents PMN, the parent company of the Daily News, the Inquirer, and Philly.com. Brennan is now an Inquirer reporter.

When subpoenaed two years ago by the grand jury investigating Kane, Brennan also invoked the Shield Law so that he would not have to identify sources, Schwartz said.

But because Brennan had already reported on the content of the documents, Schwartz said, the company's lawyers agreed to provide the grand jury with photocopies of the documents at issue. Prosecutors now want the originals.

"We simply asked for the original documents to be able to do forensic testing upon them," Steele said Friday.

Schwartz said he was served with the subpoena from Steele's office because he has held onto the original documents. He said he was opposing the subpoena because forensic tests could reveal Brennan's sources of information.

Kane is scheduled to go to trial Aug. 8 on charges of perjury, obstruction, and official oppression. Prosecutors say she illegally leaked the documents and later lied about it under oath. She has pleaded not guilty.

While prosecutors have accused Kane of orchestrating an illegal leak, they have been unable to document precisely how the documents made their way to the Daily News.

Kane has said she did not sanction the release of every document that prosecutors say was leaked - and that she did not see all the documents made available to the newspaper.

A former aide who served as a courier for the documents said he found them in a closed envelope in his office, and did not know precisely who put them there for him to deliver, or who chose which documents to be put in the package.

lmccrystal@phillynews.com

610-313-8116@Lmccrystal