Judge Releases Illinois Reporter From Subpoena Over Documents

By: E&P Staff Dusty Rhodes, a reporter for the alternative weekly Illinois Times of Springfield, Ill., averted a subpoena Wednesday that would have forced her to produce documents used in a September 28 article, reported the Springfield-based State-Journal Register. Circuit Judge Leo Zappa eventually released Rhodes from the subpoena after the city itself produced the documents.

Attorney Jon Gray Noll subpoenaed Rhodes, who refused to produce two documents that he believed concerned his client, Larry M. Washington, reported the Register. One document was a summary of an investigation of two state detectives and a second was a letter of complaint against those same two detectives. Washington faces charges of manufacturing/delivering a controlled substance.

Angela Fyans, the assistant corporation counsel for the city of Springfield, eventually released the city?s copies of the documents, saying that they, in fact, had nothing to do with Washington?s case

Since her subpoena was made null once the judge obtained a copy of the documents, Rhodes was not forced to decide whether to possibly escalate the issue into a media disclosure battle.