Reporter may testify in Girls Gone Wild case

[KevinG]

Circuit Judge Dedee Costello took the first step Monday in bringing ABC “Nightline” reporter Martin Bashir closer to testifying about whether State Attorney Steve Meadows showed him child pornography last year during an interview. Costello signed an order to compel Bashir’s testimony through the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings, since a Florida subpoena carries no weight outside the state. Bashir lives in New York. Bashir interviewed Meadows for a story on “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis that aired late last year. During the broadcast, Meadows and Bashir are seen in Meadows’ office apparently watching a videotape. Audio from the “shower scene” video that was once the center of the evidence against Francis is heard during this segment. The shower scene is video of two 17-year-old girls engaged in sexual activity in a Panama City Beach motel room shower from Spring Break 2003. Francis, 34, is charged with two counts each of using and conspiring to use minors in a sexual performance because of this incident.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/11687