Attorneys for former UA assistant track and field coach Craig Carter have subpoenaed the Arizona Daily Star and one reporter for notes and communication related to his legal battles dating to April 2015.
Star management and reporter Caitlin Schmidt were served on Wednesday. Schmidt has reported on Carter’s criminal and civil cases stemming from his physical attack of Baillie Gibson, a former UA track athlete Carter coached and with whom he had a sexual relationship.
Since June 2017, Schmidt has written about two dozen news stories related to the case.
The subpoena asks that Schmidt produce all documents and communications between her and attorneys for Gibson. The subpoena also demands all documents and communications between Schmidt and Gibson.
The Star will file a motion in court to quash the subpoena .
“The Star does not divulge information about conversations its reporters have with their sources, under any circumstances,” said Dan Barr, the Star’s attorney.
Arizona's Media Shield Law protects journalists from disclosing their sources, saying reporters “shall not be compelled to testify or disclose … the source of information procured or obtained … for publication.”
Carter was sentenced to five years in prison on May 14 after he was convicted of choking Gibson while threatening her with a box cutter in 2015. The two were involved in a sexual relationship that Carter said was consensual. Gibson was a thrower for the Wildcats’ track and field team, and Carter was her coach.
Several months after Carter’s May 2015 arrest, Gibson filed a lawsuit against Carter and the UA saying the school failed to protect her from repeated rapes by the coach. The subpoena is the latest move in the ongoing civil lawsuit.
State taxpayers are paying to represent Carter in the civil case. Billings for his attorney, John Munger, have totaled nearly $1 million.
