Judge Delays Public Release Of Mayor Kevin Johnson's Emails

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A judge has delayed the release of emails from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in his role with the National Conference of Black Mayors to give both sides a chance to work out the issue outside of court.

Judge Christopher Krueger sorted through an email dispute with questions about how the mayor's private Gmail accounts Johnson claims are protected by attorney-client privilege landed on city servers.

In the end, he asked attorneys with the city, to show the 100 emails in question with Johnson's and the Sacramento News and Review's attorneys to determine which are legally protected by attorney-client privacy laws. If no agreement is reached, he will then made a final determination.

Sacramento City Attorney Jim Sanchez says Johnson's use of Gmail for political issues creates a number of issues for his office.

"If you have those kind of accounts going on you have the potential for mixing accounts, and so from our standpoint it creates a lot of problems," he said.

Nevertheless, Sanchez says the private accounts don't put the public at risk.

"I'm satisfied as a city attorney that the city has strong records, solid records for the public decisions that are made," he said.

Johnson didn't appear in court on Thursday. His attorneys told the judge the substance of the mayor's emails he wants private are not damaging to his office.

"The purpose of this proceeding was never to sue any newspaper; it was never to block disclosure of public records, it was only to have a fair protection of bona fide attorney-client communications," attorney Peter Haviland.