Phil Fullerton, lawyer for ‘The Bee Four’ case involving confidential sources, dies
Phil Fullerton, a Fresno lawyer who helped defend four Fresno Bee news staffers in a famous confidential-sources case, died on Dec. 10. He was 91.
Fullerton considered his work as lead counsel for “The Bee Four” to be among the highlights of his legal career. “I’ve always had a soft spot for journalists,” he told the newsletter published by Fresno’s Community United Church of Christ, of which he was a member.
The Bee Four’s case occurred in 1976. Then Managing Editor George Gruner, ombudsman James H. Bort Jr. and reporters William K. Patterson and Joe Rosato were sentenced to jail after they refused to divulge who had leaked them sealed grand jury testimony dealing with a local developer who had allegedly bribed a Fresno City Councilmember.
The quartet spent 15 days in a lock-up for civil-case prisoners, away from criminal defendants, before a Superior Court judge finally freed them. To the end, they refused to say who had given them the grand jury transcript.
Fullerton wrote about the case’s key points in a 2017 Valley Voice in The Bee:
“Many states have given reporters a ‘limited privilege’ which requires the government to seek all other sources first before the reporter is compelled. Then he must speak or go to jail for civil contempt as did the Bee Four. Their secret has not been revealed to this day, although they spent time in jail until Superior Court Judge Hollis Best released them in the belief that they would never talk.
“Overwhelmingly, reporters and press officials believe that leaks are absolutely necessary to a free functioning government. The inviolate protection of sources is an ethic taught in all journalism schools.”
Former Bee Executive Editor Jim Boren said Fullerton played a critical role in The Bee Four case.
“Phil Fullerton was a giant in our community in defense of the First Amendment and advocating for press freedom. His work on The Bee Four case was extraordinary,” said Boren, now executive director of the Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State. “We are a better community for all the great work that he has done to protect free expression.”
Fullerton was a prolific contributor of Valley Voice essays to The Bee’s opinion section. In a 2021 submission, he recognized his own mortality as a then-90 year old:
“The reality is that I have a life expectancy of single digits, and probably low single digits. So what to do with these remaining days, weeks, months, a few years? I have what I call decreased ‘gumption’ with which to confront the future. That is the ‘fire in the belly’ that propelled me through university and law school, building a law firm, raising a family, backpacking more than 1,000 miles, and much more.
“It is my observation, and that of many others, that this precious commodity decreases dramatically with age. This challenge taps into a philosophical question that tormented ancient Greek thinkers and most philosophers since then. Should we live for pleasure (‘Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die!’) or service? And all of this with diminished gumption to fuel any choice I make.”
A tribute in the Community United Church newsletter this month, written by former Bee staffer Doug Hoagland, said Fullerton was born in Berwyn, Illinois in 1931. He later attended Duke University, where he was editor of the school newspaper. Fullerton earned his law degree at Stanford, where he was on the Stanford Law Review.
Fullerton married his high school sweetheart, Margaret, and they moved to Fresno to set up his law practice and be near the Sierra Nevada. They had four children, who survive him. Fullerton is also survived by 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and six step-great-grandchildren.
His wife passed away in 2019.
Among his professional honors, Fullerton was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and was elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates.
He served as chairman of the Catholic Charities Committee on Refugees in the San Joaquin Valley, was treasurer of the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Committee, and was co-chairman of the American Field Service in the Valley, which places foreign exchange students. In 1992, he was elected to the “Who’s Who in the World” publication.
A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. on Jan. 14 at the church, 5550 N. Fresno St. Lunch will follow.
