Appeals Court: Reporter Does Not Have To Disclose Source
CHICAGO (STMW) -- A reporter previously held in contempt of court while covering a grisly Joliet double-homicide will not have to disclose his source, a state appeals court ruled Monday.
The court reversed the September 2013 decision of a Will County judge to find Patch.com reporter Joseph Hosey in contempt for not revealing how he acquired detailed reports of the stranglings of Eric Glover and Terrance Rankins.
The contempt order and fines lobbied against Hosey were also vacated, the court ruled.
In August 2013, a Will County judge ordered Hosey to turn over all of his documents relating to the January 2013 killings of Glover and Rankins. If the material did not reveal the source, Hosey would have to sign a sworn statement, telling who have gave him the records, when and how, the judge said.
The bodies of Glover and Rankins, both of Joliet, were found Jan. 10 in the Hickory Street home of Alisa Massaro, who is charged in the murders along with Bethany McKee, Joshua Miner and Adam Landerman.
Hosey used police reports he obtained to write stories about the killings. McKee's lawyers want to know who leaked the reports and asked the judge to require Hosey to be questioned under oath.
Hosey first exposed the salacious claims that Massaro and Miner had sex on the bodies of the victims.
In its opinion issued Monday, the state court also acknowledged the amicus curiae brief the Chicago Sun-Times and several dozen other media organizations filed in support of Hosey.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
