BishopAccountability.org
	Tracy Press Phone Call to Huckaby Recorded Tracy Press July 16, 2009 http://www.tracypress.com/ The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said today a 40-minute phone call between the alleged killer of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu and a Tracy Press reporter was secretly recorded during a wiretap. The D.A.'s office sent letters to the Stockton Record, to Connie and Lane Lawless, members of their church and perhaps others informing them that investigators recorded phone calls made to the Lawless home as well as calls to the cell number of the Lawless' granddaughter Melissa Huckaby. Huckaby was arrested on the night of April 10 on suspicion of killing Sandra, just hours after the Press published a story in which Huckaby told reporter Jennifer Wadsworth in a 40-minute phone call that the suitcase in which Sandra's body was found might have been the same one Huckaby said she reported stolen when Sandra disappeared March 27. Police said the next day there were inconsistencies in what Huckaby told Wadsworth and what she told police investigators. But because the Tracy Press never received a letter from the D.A.'s office informing the paper a phone call involving a Press reporter was recorded, it was unclear whether the interview between Huckaby and Wadsworth was secretly taped. The wiretap allowed investigators to record phone calls from April 8 to 13. District Attorney spokesman Robert Himelblau said today that phone call was recorded, and that it was an oversight that the Tracy Press never received a letter telling the paper so, as required by law. Himelblau said his office also failed to notify one other person of a recorded phone call, but did not identify who that was. Huckaby has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, raping and murdering Sandra and "furnishing a harmful substance" to a 36-year-old man and a 7-year-old girl. She remains in solitary confinement in San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp. Prosecutors are expected to convene a criminal grand jury, possibly next week, in an effort to obtain an indictment against Huckaby, 28. A gag order prevents witnesses and other involved from discussing anything about the case.
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