Jeffs for some time was on the run and landed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. He ultimately was arrested during a traffic stop in Nevada last year.

Winslow was among the first reporters in the nation to break the story of the arrest. He also is president of the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which is party to a motion — along with the News — seeking to unseal documents that have been closed to the public in the Jeffs case.

The Deseret Morning News raised hackles in the legal community when a News photographer on March 27 took a picture of a handwritten note Jeffs was holding. Jeffs unsuccessfully tried to give it to Shumate, but Jeffs' attorneys intercepted the note.

Using enhanced technology, the News found words on the note were visible. The Deseret Morning News confirmed the note's contents with other, independent sources, and after considerable internal debate, decided to publish it.

Jeffs' attorneys, Bugden and Tara Isaacson, then asked the court to ban cameras in the courtroom, saying the publishing of the note's contents violated attorney-client privilege, invaded Jeffs' privacy and jeopardized his right to a trial by a fair and impartial jury.

The Deseret Morning News and other news media outlets have opposed the camera-ban request. They argued that the note was not a privileged communication between a client and lawyer, others knew of the note's contents, and that the public has a right to know about Jeffs' criminal proceedings.

Hunt has argued in a motion to quash the subpoena that Winslow has a First Amendment privilege that protects him and the News from being compelled to disclose information obtained in the course of gathering news.

Hunt wrote that the subpoena appears to be "an attempt to retaliate against (Winslow) for his news reporting on these proceedings," and "this eleventh-hour tactic is wildly inappropriate" because it violates constitutional privilege and abuses the court's subpoena power.

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com