The Roanoke Times | File April

Katie Thisdell, editor-in-chief of James Madison University's student newspaper, The Breeze, argued that unpublished photos of an April riot were protected by reporter's privilege.

James Madison University's student newspaper agreed Tuesday to provide 20 photos of an April riot to the Rockingham County commonwealth's attorney, ending a six-week legal standoff and a debate about the balance between public safety and journalists' rights.

According to the agreement, law enforcement officials will receive photos they want for a criminal investigation of a melee in which at least 30 people were arrested and more than 40 were injured. The lawyers for the JMU paper, The Breeze, will receive $10,000 for attorneys fees. And no one on the newspaper or law enforcement side will be sued as a result of the disagreement.

"I express my regret for the fear and concern that I have caused The Breeze and its staff," Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst wrote in a news release. "The discussions that have occurred have enhanced my understanding and re-enforced the role of a free press in our democracy."

Katie Thisdell, editor-in-chief of the Breeze, claimed the settlement as a win for her staff: "We are pleased that the Commonwealth's Attorney has expressed regret over the fear and concern caused by the April 16th seizure from The Breeze for our photographs related to the Springfest riot."

Thisdell continued, "While the Privacy Protection Act would have allowed us to sue various officials involved in the April 16th seizure, we have strongly preferred to resolve this matter informally through discussions with the Commonwealth's Attorney. We are pleased that we were able to do so, and to put this matter behind us."

The dispute stemmed from an April 10 off-campus gathering of more than 8,000 people that turned violent, prompting police to don riot gear and launch tear gas at the crowd.

During the ensuing investigation, Garst requested photographs taken by Breeze staff. Thisdell, a 2007 graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, agreed only to provide those photos that had already run in the paper and on its Web site.

Garst and a group of law enforcement officers received a search warrant to obtain the rest of the photographs, but after consulting with The Breeze's legal counsel, Thisdell refused, arguing the photos were protected by reporter's privilege.

When Garst insisted and said the officers were prepared to seize all of the paper's computers, Thisdell downloaded more than 900 images from the newspaper's hard drives onto discs and turned them over. Two days later, after The Breeze's lawyer continued to assert that the photos were protected under the federal Privacy Protection Act, Garst gave them to the paper's adviser until the issue could be resolved.

Garst said in a news release Tuesday that her focus "was only to obtain the photographs necessary to assist in apprehending violent criminals," and so she narrowed the scope of her office's request to eight particular incidents.

"In lieu of receiving a subpoena for that more limited category of photographs, the Breeze agreed to provide twenty photographs," Garst said in the release. "Those additional materials will hopefully allow the law enforcement community to bring violent criminals to justice."

According to the settlement, the $10,000 in attorneys fees will be provided by the commonwealth's attorney's office, the Harrisonburg Police Department and the JMU Police Department. The money will be paid by the Virginia Division of Risk Management, which helps protect public entities from financial loss caused by legal liability and other factors.