Times Reporter Arrested

March 7, 1972

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SAN JOSE, Calif., March 6—Earl Caldwell, a correspondent of The New York Times, was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana today by Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies outside the courtroom where Angela Davis is on trial.

A spokesman for the sheriff's office said that Mr. Caldwell, who has been covering the trial, had been, found in possession of a “small quantity” of marijuana by deputies searching all persons entering the courtroom at the Santa Clara County Superior Court Building.

The sheriff's spokesman, Capt. Wes Johnson, said the suspected marijuana had been found in a film container in a briefcase that Mr. Caldwell was carrying.

Mr. Caldwell was later released in his own recognizance, after he paid a $41 traffic fine imposed some time ago in San Francisco, where the reporter is based. The unpaid ticket was disclosed here in a routine computer check of outstanding traffic tickets.

The sheriff's office said that Mr. Caldwell's special press credentials to cover the Davis trial had been suspended pending the outcome of the marijuana charge.

Mr. Caldwell was scheduled for a court hearing within 10 days to plead to the charge.

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