Texas shield law already getting a workout

The newly enacted Texas shield law is already being put to use, with a reporter for a Corpus Christi television station successfully invoking it to avoid having to testify in a sexual assault case.

KIII TV reports that its journalist Katy Kiser was subpoenaed to testify in the trial of a homeless man whom she found and interviewed after the attack in question was reported. Prosecutors reportedly wanted her to authenticate the news story that subsequently aired on KIII TV and respond to questions on the witness stand, threatening her with arrest if she refused to comply. But Judge Sandra Watts on Tuesday sided with her attorney, Jorge Rangel, finding that the state Free Flow of Information Act protected Kiser. Watts quashed the subpoena.