Joliet Patch | Chicago Sun-Times
Patch editor Joseph Hosey won’t reveal who gave him police reports about a gruesome murder in Joliet, Ill., Hosey’s lawyer Ken Schmetterer told a judge in Will County, Ill., Tuesday.
Judge Gerald Kinney on Aug. 30 ordered Hosey to give his source up. Hosey and Patch Media plan to appeal the order, Dennis Robaugh reports.
“Some experts, including media lawyers, said Hosey most likely would not be jailed after being found in contempt of court,” Becky Schlikerman writes in the Chicago Sun-Times. “Rather, it’s a procedural motion to give the appellate court jurisdiction.”
Hosey reported that two of the people accused of murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover in Joliet at the beginning of 2013 had sex atop their dead bodies. “A source has confirmed for the Chicago Sun-Times that the detail appears in the reports, which contain conflicting interviews,” Schlikerman writes.
One defendant, Bethany McKee, is seeking the information. “Her stated objectives are to ‘plug’ the leak and interfere with Mr. Hosey’s ability to write more stories, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against prior restraints,” Hosey’s petition says.
Illinois has a shield law for journalists. Last August, a Cook County judge overturned a previous ruling that said the law did not apply to online journalists.
Related: Fox News reporter Jana Winter wins delay in hearing about her case (Denver Post)
