Crime & Safety

Patch Reporter Won't Have to Reveal Source: Appellate Court

There is not sufficient reason to require Patch reporter Joseph Hosey to disclose his source, an appellate court ruled Monday.

Patch editor Joe Hosey will not have to reveal an anonymous source, an appellate court ruled on Monday, and with that his legal battle of more than a year came to an end.

Third District Appellate Court judges earlier this month heard arguments on whether Joseph Hosey should be required to divulge the source from whom he received investigative reports that described in detail various aspects of a grisly Joliet double murder in January 2013. Will County Judge Gerald Kinney in September 2013 found Hosey in “minor direct criminal contempt” for withholding the information. Hosey faced jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.

There is not sufficient reason for Hosey to disclose his source, the appellate court ruled, in turn negating Kinney’s ruling.

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“Because the identity of Hosey’s source cannot be said to [be] relevant to a fact of consequence to the first degree murder allegations, we hold that the circuit court erred when it granted the motion for divestiture.”

Hosey was relieved with the outcome, and grateful for the support of other journalists.

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“I’m happy with the decision and incredibly grateful to my attorneys, Ken Schmetterer and Joe Roselius, as well as to everyone at Patch and those in the media and public who supported me,” Hosey said. “Thank you all.”

Attorney Neil Patel, who defended convicted murderer Bethany McKee, told the appellate court judges in court Dec. 3 that withholding the source of the leak impacted his client’s right to a fair trial. The judges were skeptical.

“I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around. . . how disclosing (the source) has any effect on the trial itself,” Appellate Judge Daniel Schmidt said that day.

The ruling echoed those sentiments.

McKee and Joshua Miner were convicted of murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover. Alisa Massaro plead guilty to lesser charges in the crime. Adam Landerman is awaiting trial for the crime.

Among the gruesome details Hosey reported were that Massaro and Miner had sex atop the corpses of Rankins and Glover after the two men were throttled by Miner and Landerman.

Thirty-nine news media organizations filed a friend of the court brief supporting Hosey. The National Press Club awarded Hosey the National Press Freedom Award.

The Appellate Court panel, which includes Schmidt, Robert Carter and Tom Lytton, reversed Kinney’s ruling, and vacated the court’s contempt order and its associated fines.

Read on!


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