DOJ to Settle With Scientist Erroneously Linked to Anthrax Attacks

[WSJ_law_blog]

Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, a bioweapons expert who was under scrutiny for the 2001 anthrax attacks, defended himself during a news conference outside his lawyer


This just in from the AP: The DOJ has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, whom the government wrongly implicated in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

In 2002, the FBI and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft described Hatfill, a former Army scientist, as a “person of interest” in the investigation into the post 9/11 anthrax attacks, which killed five people, sickened 17, and to this day remain unresolved. Hatfill sued the government for violating his privacy by leaking information to the press. In a statement Friday, his lawyers said: “As an innocent man, and as our fellow citizen, Steven Hatfill deserved far better.”

Could this be good news for Toni Locy? Back in March, Judge Reggie Walton, a D.C. district court judge, held Locy, 48, a former USA Today reporter, in contempt in this case for refusing to name her sources for a story she wrote about Hatfill’s possible role in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Click here, here and here for past LB coverage.

Walton issued a contempt order fining Locy $500 a day for seven days, $1,000 a day for the following seven days, and $5,000 a day for the seven days after that if she continued to refuse to cooperate. He also barred USA Today, or any other individual or news organization, from helping Locy — now a West Virginia University journalism prof — pay the fines. Last we heard, just hours before the fines were going to begin accruing, the D.C. Court of Appeals rang the bell, ordering that Locy didn’t have to pay the fines while her lawyers fought Walton’s contempt ruling.

According to the AP, on Friday Locy said: “I hope this means that this ordeal is over and that I can get on with my life.” She said: “I am pleased that Dr. Hatfill’s lawyers are now saying they no longer need my testimony, but I don’t know if my appeal is moot or if the contempt order against me will be lifted because I don’t have anything at this point from the Court of Appeals or Judge Walton that says I’m in the clear.”