WICHITA, Kan. — A subpoenaed Dodge City reporter who testified about a jailhouse interview with a shooting suspect has been fired, the latest turn in a bitter dispute between the journalist and her newspaper since the Kansas Supreme Court refused to toss out the subpoena.

Reporter Claire O'Brien said her firing on March 5 from the Dodge City Daily Globe stemmed from comments she made to news outlets after she was found in contempt for failing to appear at an inquisition, the Kansas equivalent of a grand jury.

O'Brien told reporters at the time that the newspaper's corporate owners had refused to pay for her legal representation and scuttled her efforts to find independent legal help unless she testified — claims that GateHouse Media Kansas Holdings, which owns the newspaper, has denied.

On March 7, O'Brien said she was fired in "retaliation" for making those public comments.

Stephen Wade, group publisher for GateHouse Media Kansas, said the company couldn't comment on the matter because it was a personnel issue.

"Out of respect to the employee and the law, we really can't comment," Wade said yesterday.

O'Brien's Oct. 13 story was based on a jailhouse interview she conducted with Sam Bonilla, who had been charged with second-degree murder in the death of one man and attempted murder for the wounding of another. On Feb. 23, Bonilla pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery.

The case anchored a larger debate over a reporter's shield law in Kansas when O'Brien was ordered to testify about the interview and a confidential source after the story suggested the incident had stirred up anti-Hispanic sentiment and that Bonilla could be in danger.

O'Brien and GateHouse Media appealed the subpoena on the grounds that forcing her to testify would violate her First Amendment rights and hurt her ability to gather news.

Her confidential source revealed himself to authorities after O'Brien was fined $1,000 a day for contempt when she initially didn't show up to testify. The contempt citation and fine were rescinded after she subsequently testified in a closed hearing.

O'Brien said that after that Feb. 12 hearing, she was forced to sign some disciplinary forms, including one claiming she had defamed GateHouse Media.

She also found the locks on the newspaper building had been changed after the hearing, and she was the only reporter not given a key, O'Brien said. Other work restrictions included a requirement that a manager be present whenever she was in the building, O'Brien said.