Last Tuesday, Cohan again displayed his rudeness toward reporters, and this time it was witnessed by no less than Attorney General Robert T. Torres. Here’s what happened: I arrived a little bit early for the 11 a.m. press conference called by Torres at AGO’s Criminal Division office. Since I was the first reporter there, I talked with Torres regarding some issues, including his plan to renovate the insect-infested Criminal Division building. Assistant Attorney General Janine Udui arrived at this point, followed by KMCV 7 news director Chris Nelson and his cameraman. We exchanged pleasantries. Since the press conference had not yet started, we asked Udui whether 144 grams of “ice” were confiscated from David Tanaka Diaz. When Diaz was arrested in August, authorities mentioned a different quantity of the seized drug. Udui said it was really 144 grams and the difference was due to the plastic bags.
When Cohan came in, Torres began the press conference. After Torres said something positive about the verdict in Diaz’s case, Nelson asked Cohan, who was the lead prosecutor in the case, what was the toughest part of the proceedings. But before Nelson could finish, Cohan said he would not answer questions from the media. “I’ll tell you why if you want,” Cohan told Nelson. Cohan said he earlier explained to Nelson what was going on in court, but when he watched the news, the story had nothing to do with what happened in court that day. “That was incorrect!” Cohan told Nelson.
The prosecutor then told me that I was writing “incorrectly” everyday and that was why he didn’t like to talk to us. While Nelson was trying to explain his side, Cohan said that whenever the press “reports about things, it’s always on a bad slant against the government. It’s never like hey, these guys did a good job.” Cohan added he was just explaining and that there was “nothing personal” with his comments.
Torres said something about the “problems and feelings” of some prosecutors regarding the media, but Cohan interrupted him and told us that I wrote incorrect stories about Diaz’s case. Cohan questioned why I wrote that the street value of the “ice” seized from Diaz was worth $200,000. I said the figure came from court documents in the case and from previous interviews with some officers involved in the case. But Mr. prosecutor said: “That’s wrong. You’re printing the wrong information. You’re not doing a service to the community by doing that.” I told him that I was simply getting the information based on their own court documents and that he was not here when Diaz was arrested. But Cohan said: “I don’t care who’s here, it’s wrong. You understand what I’m saying?” He added: “And you don’t have my permission to use the picture that you took with me. You should ask somebody before you do that.” Sensing that it was useless to talk with this taxpayer-paid attorney, I told him that I would rather not argue with him. But Cohan was not done yet. He also said that Variety uses the word “allegedly” incorrectly. I wanted to remind Cohan that a defendant is always presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. I also wanted to tell him about the guidelines set by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press, but, as I’ve said, I considered it a waste of time to argue with this government lawyer so I just told him that Variety has an editor. However, Cohan continued his lecture on the word “alleged” before he stood up and left Torres and Udui in the conference room. Torres then told reporters not to take Cohan’s statements personally because “it is just frustration coming out (of him)” and that some attorneys were “burned” in the past by the press.
According to Donald W. Reynolds, lawyers, especially those who deal with the media, should have a general familiarity with journalism ethics. “If you see a violation of those rules, there is little to be lost by calling the paper, magazine or station. Most editors I know want to know when their unit has erred so they can avoid a recurrence,” says Reynolds of the National Center for Courts and Media. What Cohan did was not only an insult to the media, but also to Torres himself. He showed his true color—he disrespects his boss.
And I don’t believe that there was nothing personal about Cohan’s outburst. It’s probably about the sauna bath brouhaha. Well, if that’s the case, he should realize that this paper never touched that issue because we knew the truth behind it. The only other issue that I could think of was the Feb. 20 hearing when Judge Virginia Sablan-Onerheim expressed irritation over Cohan’s behavior. “I want to meet you in my chamber regarding your attitude!” the visibly irked judge told Cohan. She got upset after Cohan repeatedly refused to give his recommendation to the court in a criminal case in which the defendant failed to appear for the scheduled status conference. Sablan-Onerheim told the prosecutor: “You are the government in this case, Mr. Cohan. If you see that it’s wrong, you make a recommendation!” We printed that story.
By the way, did I ever mention the gesture Cohan made in court after Judge Juan T. Lizama told the lawyers to meet him in his chamber during the sentencing of Diaz?
The Governor’s Developmental Disabilities Council should also post the following sign at AGO’s Criminal Division: “Attitudes are the real disabilities.”
