GRETNA, La. — A reality show about Steven Seagal as a reserve sheriff’s deputy meets the legal definition of news, so its producers are protected by a journalism shield law, a Louisiana judge has ruled.
Judge Patrick McCabe rejected a defense attorney’s request to make ITV Studios of New York turn over raw footage of an arrest Seagal and deputies made last year in Marrero.
Attorney Joe Marino III, who represents a man accused of possessing cocaine, contented that “Steven Seagal, Lawman” is produced purely for entertainment, and the studio had to turn over the video.
He could not be reached for comment in time for this story about whether he plans to appeal the verdict handed down March 5.
“News and entertainment have merged to such an extent that they’ve almost become indistinguishable,” McCabe said, rejecting Marino’s contention.
Marino represents Jimmy Sarrio, who was arrested July 25.
In his arrest report, Deputy Brian Brisner wrote that he was “assigned to the television show production, Steven Seagal Lawman.” Deputies were on “a proactive patrol in troubled areas” when Col. John Fortunato, the department’s spokesman, spotted Sarrio’s parked car, Brisner wrote.
Sgt. Larry Dyess saw a plastic bag of cocaine “in plain view” on Sarrio’s car floorboard and Sarrio, 30, of Marrero admitted it was his, Brisner wrote.
Marino said he needed the video because the report does not say why the parked car caught Fortunato’s eye and led deputies to question Sarrio. If the stop was unconstitutional, the evidence the deputies gathered could be ruled inadmissible in court.
ITV balked. Attorney Mary Ellen Roy argued that “Lawman” qualifies as a news show because it is about crime and drugs — “the very essence of news.”
“It’s more like a documentary,” Roy argued. “It’s more like a series.”
The law “doesn’t say you can’t jazz it up and make it (news) entertaining,” she said. “It’s the subject matter that defines it. If the subject matter is crime or drugs, then it’s news.”
She said Marino failed to address a legal test used to define news organizations, and that people who appear on the show would shy away from signing releases allowing them to appear on television if they suspected the video would be used against them in court.
The show is more about promoting Seagal, Marino countered, noting that a “Lawman” DVD set includes biographical features about Seagal.
“ ‘Lawman’ is clearly entertainment and not a news show,” Marino said.
Seagal, who owns a home in Lafitte, has not testified in court cases stemming from the series, though Marino has issued a subpoena to the actor in seeking the video.
McCabe encouraged an appeal to the state 5th Circuit court of Appeal.
As state and federal laws are written, the judge said, it’s news. “I don’t necessarily agree with what is written,” he said.